The Nigerian Senate has directed its Committee on Lands and Survey to organise a public investigation of the incessant cases of building collapse.
This is coming days after a building at the premises of the Synagogue Church Of All Nations in Lagos collapsed, living over 85 persons dead.
At its plenary on Tuesday, the senate also charged the Federal and States Ministries of Land and Housing, the Standard Organisation of Nigeria, Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria and other regulatory agencies to wake up and ensure compliance with building rules and regulations.
The Synagogue Church Of All Nation’s guest house collapsed on September 12, with most of the dead from South Africa.
A week later, another church, Christ Chosen in Benin, the Edo State capital, collapsed, killing three people.
However, church structures are not the only buildings collapsing in the country, an increasing trend in the last two years that the lawmaker said was a source of concern.
Some lawmakers say there is a fundamental problem relating to what is happening in the building and construction industry.
Another lawmaker, Senator Joshua Dariye, said that religious bodies had been flouting building policies, insisting that they must be held accountable for the collapse of church structures.
For the most recent building collapses – that of Synagogue Church and Christ Chosen Church – the Lagos and Edo State governments have promised to investigate the circumstances leading to the collapse of the churches.
But the federal lawmakers want the Federal and State governments to stop playing lip service to solving the problem of building collapses.
One solution they have put forward, is for government and relevant agencies to sanction organisations and individuals who flout building regulations
