The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who has been visibly upset at the Ikoyi building collapse tragedy, has admitted that mistakes were made from all angles.
This is coming as the controversy over the approval of the collapsed Ikoyi high rise building rages, with the Lagos State Deputy Governor, Obafemi Hamzat, saying the owner of the building got approval for 21 floors, contradictory to the statement of the General Manager of Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), Gbolahan Oki, who earlier stated that approval was given for 15 floors only.
While on a visit to the collapsed building site on Wednesday, where emergency workers were still involved in rescue operations, Sanwo-Olu expressed regret at the tragic incident, assuring that emergency workers would remain engaged in the rescue operations.
What the Lagos State Governor is saying
Sanwo-Olu said, “This is an event that could be described clearly as a national disaster. Mistakes were made from all angles.” The governor added that such an event “really should not be happening in a modern-day city like Lagos.”
He extended his condolences to the families and people whose loved ones were affected by the tragedy and also announced members of a panel of inquiry to probe the collapse.
He promised that those found culpable would be made to face the law.
On the suspension of the General Manager of LASBCA, Sanwo-Olu explained that the suspension was just a first step in the quest to hold those responsible to account.
He said, “We will say that we had to take from the head; from the leadership of that agency. And you can rest assured that if there are other people that are found in the course of the investigation, they will face the full wrath of the law.”
He also affirmed that there were violations of the National Building Code in the construction, stating that although he did not have all the details, preliminary investigations showed there were violations that could have happened in the course of the building project.
In case you missed it
Recall that on Tuesday, November 2, the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, ordered an indefinite suspension of the General Manager of Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), Mr Gbolahan Oki, barely 24 hours after the collapse of a 21-storey high-rise building on Gerrard Road, Ikoyi.
The state government in the statement also announced the setting up of an independent panel to probe the circumstances surrounding the collapse of the building.
The panel will independently investigate the remote and immediate causes of the incident and make recommendations on how to prevent future occurrences. The investigation is not part of the internal probe already being conducted by the government.