The Lagos State Government has indicted Prophet Temitope
Joshua, General Overseer, Synagogue Church of All Nations, over the
collapse of a
6-storey guest house in his church.
Death
toll in the tragedy which occurred last Friday has hit 80 as rescue
workers intensify efforts to evacuate the remaining victims trapped
under the rubble. There is likely no hope of any more survivors.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Lagos State
Government insisted that Joshua did not have approval for the building,
therefore the addition of more floors to the existing two-storey
building was illegal.
The government, however, said investigations were still on as to why the building collapsed.
Commissioner
for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Olutoyin Ayinde said
government would not shut down the church until investigations were
concluded.
Ayinde expressed sincere condolences and
sympathy with those that lost their loved ones and those that were
injured in the unfortunate incident.
He said the Government and indeed the Ministry was particularly saddened that innocent lives were lost.
The
Commissioner clarified that no plans were in the offing to take over
the collapsed structure site until thorough and detailed investigation
as to the cause(s) of the collapse had been concluded.
According
to him, government is conducting a preliminary investigation into the
cause(s) of the collapse and would leave nothing to chance to unravel
what cause the building to collapse.
He added that if there was any violation of relevant planning laws, government would take appropriate action.
To
this end, Ayinde said a team of engineers from the Ministry and other
state government agencies were taking samples from the foundation and
materials from the wreckage of the building for detailed analysis.
He
stressed that government does not arbitrarily take over properties when
testing to ascertain the structural integrity of any building that
collapses.
On the veracity of the “Strange Plane
Theory,” alleged to have dangerously flown low over the building 50
minutes before the collapse, he said the Ministry had submitted the
video clips, as provided by the Church to the Nigerian Civil Aviation
Authority (NCAA) with the coordinate of the collapsed site for
investigation and professional comment.
Meanwhile, the
Chairman of the Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on the
Environment, Tobun Abiodun, has expressed belief that some government
officials may have allowed themselves to be compromised and influenced
to allow the church conctruct the collapsed building illegally.
Ordinarily,
officers in-charge of physical planning in the state are supposed to
act where buildings become defective or where they do not follow
laid-down procedures, he argued.
Tobun, who described
the incident as a major disaster and a great loss, however, condoled
with the families of the deceased and said the government needed to be
more careful and pro-active to prevent a similar incident from happening
again.
Quoting a report by the National Emergency
Management Agency, NEMA, Tobun said that the building ought to have only
four floors instead of six, according to the foundation of the house.
“But
my concern is that we have town planning officers that should supervise
buildings in the state, they are accomplices. There is no way someone
would build a six-storey building instead of four and they would say
they were not aware. I believe that they compromised standard.
“Until
they know that if they compromise in any way they are risking people’s
lives, there would be problem. They should be more pro-active in the
discharge of their duties,” he said.
But the Chairman
of the Physical Planning Committee of the House, Mufutau Egberongbe,
while defending the officials of the Ministry of Physical Planning and
Urban Development, urged Nigerians to adopt voluntary compliance to laws
as enforcement of the laws is supposed to be a last resort.
One of the challenges facing the ministry, according to Egberongbe, is the lack of adequate staff.
“How
many are the staff of the ministry to go round Lagos when buildings are
springing up on a daily basis? Voluntary compliance to laws should be
our primary responsibility,” he said.
He said the
government officials would have faced heavy criticisms from people if
they had decided to implement the law to the letter in relation to the
building, adding that it even costs the government money to carry out
demolition of structures.
To him, if the church had done what it should do, the incident would have been averted.
Source:PM News
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