President Muhammadu Buhari has vowed to prosecute anyone found culpable in the recent building collapses in the country especially in Lagos State.
According to him, the incidents have been as a result of professional negligence and therefore, those responsible will face the full wrath of the law.
He said this when he received the leadership of the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors at the Presidential Villa on Tuesday.
The president stressed the need to adhere strictly to quality standards in construction projects and avoid cutting corners in order to prevent such unfortunate incidents, resulting in the loss of lives.
Read Also: Lagos Building Collapse: A Black Wednesday At Ita Faji
Earlier on Tuesday, the Federal Government had inaugurated an inter-ministerial committee on collapsed buildings as part of its commitment to finding a permanent solution to the menace.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony in Abuja, the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, said that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is determined to do everything that is humanly possible to stop building collapses because of its toll on human life.
The committee, which has two weeks to complete its tasks is headed by the Acting Director General of the Nigerian Building And Road Research Institute, Professor Samson Duna.
Disaster Waiting To Happen
Between March 13 and March 23 alone, three buildings had collapsed in Lagos Island, intensifying fears of more collapses of some of the decades-old buildings.
Although there were no casualties in the previous two collapses as demolition was already ongoing, that of Ita Faji which occurred on March 13, claimed at least 20 lives.
The demolition of the buildings, as well as several others around the area commenced few days after the Ita Faji building collapse had triggered outrage across the country and condemnation of the government’s inability to enforce its rules regarding structures considered to have failed integrity test.
The state government, on the other hand, insisted that prior to the unfortunate incident, most of the buildings in the area had been marked for demolition.
It, however, said it failed to follow through with the process because owners of some of the houses were adamant to relocate.
