The governor of Lagos state, Akinwunmi Ambode, has directed that a stability test be conducted on all buildings constructed by Lekki Gardens to ascertain their structural integrity, maintaining that any building found to be defective will be demolished.
As stated by Habib Aruna, the governor’s chief press secretary, Ambode gave the order after inspecting the site of the collapsed building, which killed 34 persons.
“The state government will undertake a stability test on all other buildings constructed by the developer in the state, whether occupied or not, to ascertain their structural stability,” Aruna said in a statement.
“The developer will pay the cost of the tests. Any building found to be defective would be demolished. For those that pass the integrity test the developer will pay a penalty for any over-development on the site.”
Aruna said the governor is unhappy about the spate of building collapse, and commiserated with families of the victims of the latest incident.
“Since the unfortunate incident the state government has taken several steps to stem the tide of building collapse,” the statement read.
“Governor Ambode, who commiserated with those who suffered loss and injury as a result of the building collapse, said since the incident, the state government has ordered the immediate sealing of the construction site and cessation of further construction, coordinated emergency rescue of all injured victims and treatment at its hospitals, prosecution of owners of the collapsed building as well as dismissal of some government officials.
“The government, going forward, will carry out an audit of all structures in the state to ascertain those with planning approval or not and evaluate the physical development against the approved building plans, saying that details of the plan will be made public soon.”
Wasiu Anifowose, commissioner for physical planning and urban development, advised occupiers of Lekki Gardens structures to vacate the buildings immediately.
Anifowose said the site of the collapsed structure had been condoned off and that government would take appropriate steps after the conclusion of investigation by the police.
“In the best interest of the occupiers of the other structures, their lives are very important to us as a government and we are appealing to them to vacate the buildings immediately until investigations are completed,” he said.
“The gentleman behind Lekki Gardens got approval for ground, first, second and third floors, but after doing the roofing, he removed it and added additional two floors which caused the building to collapse. So, we have to carry out integrity test on the other structures and the cost implication for present occupiers of the other structures to vacate the buildings would be borne by the developer.”
