Another building collapsed on Lagos Island on Monday, making it the third in the past two weeks.
According to residents, who spoke with PUNCH Metro, the three-storey building located on No. 50 Kakawa Street, Campos, Lagos Island, was a residential building that had been marked for demolition.
It was gathered that no one was trapped in the building as the occupants had vacated it before the collapse. The structure, however, partially fell on a bungalow, leaving two occupants injured.
A resident of the area, identified simply as Daddy Maria, said although the building had been marked for demolition, people were still moving in and out of it.
He stated, “On Friday, government officials came and they marked the house for demolition. I can’t really say what led to the collapse, but when we came back from church on Sunday, my wife and I noticed the pillar cracking and we decided to park our vehicle elsewhere and today, it collapsed.
“It was a residential building and all the occupants had already moved out, but people were still coming in and out of the building. Part of the rubble fell on the bungalow beside it. We can only thank God that there was no casualty.”
A resident of the affected bungalow, Tola Adeyanju, said the incident occurred around 1pm, adding that the two people affected were immediately rushed to hospital.
“I was on my way inside when I saw the building collapsing around 1pm. When the building collapsed, the rubble that fell on our building affected two people, one of whom is my niece. One was admitted to the general hospital and the other is being treated at the Fehintola Royal Consult Specialist Hospital.”
The state government urged occupants of distressed buildings marked for demolition across the state to immediately vacate them pending the arrival of the demolition team of the Lagos State Building Control Agency.
According to it, relief and resettlement centres have been opened to accommodate those who will be affected.
The Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Prince Rotimi Ogunleye, made the appeal while reacting to the collapse of the distressed three-storey building.
Ogunleye said, “The building in question had been identified as distressed by the officers of LASBCA and all the necessary statutory notices had been duly served. It was one of the defective structures marked for removal by the agency.
“Fortunately, the occupants had been evacuated before the incident occurred. Immediately the Lagos State Rescue Team and LASBCA were alerted and they moved to the site promptly to check all adjoining buildings so as to evacuate the occupants to avoid any further hazard.”
Already, 25 buildings have been removed by LASBCA as the government has stepped up measures to rid the state of distressed buildings and prevent the loss of lives and property.