… LASG to prosecute developer for illegal construction***
The body of a student on industrial training was, on Sunday evening, recovered from the collapsed three-storey building at Yaba area of Lagos, thus raising the death toll to five.
Zonal Coordinator, South-West of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mr Ibrahim Farinloye, confirmed the development to newsmen in Lagos.
The newsmen report that relatives of the IT student, simply identified as Damola, told the emergency rescue team that their son reported to duty the day the building collapsed and had yet to be found.
Newsmen also report that the clue came about the time rescue and recovery operation was to be concluded, having rescued two persons and recovered four bodies from the rubbles of the collapsed building.
Farinloye said that the mother of Damola fainted when one of his relatives identified the body to be his.
Newsmen report that a three-storey building had collapsed on Saturday afternoon at No. 16, Akanbi Crescent, off Adesina Street, Harvey, Yaba.
It took the combined team of officials of NEMA, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Nigeria Police Force and the Fire Service about 24 hours to get to the bottom of the rubbles.
In the same vein, the Lagos state government says it had directed the prosecution of the developer of the three-storey building under construction that collapsed in the Onike area of the state, on Saturday, killing two persons.
A statement by Mr Mukaila Sanusi, spokesman of the Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development said that the Commissioner in the ministry, Dr Idris Salako, gave the directive on Sunday evening.
Salako said that the Lagos State Building Control Agency “had been mandated to liaise with the police so as to proceed to court and press charges against the developer, who has been held for violating the state’s physical planning laws.
“The government regrets the needless loss of lives and property, due to his unlawful conduct and antics of defying stop-work orders as well as evading supervision.
“It is hoped that his prosecution would send a strong warning to all recalcitrant developers that it was mandatory to Build Right and engage professionals in constructing buildings in Lagos state as we will not hesitate to bring to book whoever errs against the law,” he said.
He said that one person was rescued alive, while two deaths were recorded from the collapse.
Salako added that excavation of the site by emergency responders, including the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) was “still ongoing and will continue until it is levelled to ground zero”.
