A Coroner in Lagos State, Chief Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe, says the 21-storey building that collapsed on 44 Gerard Road, Ikoyi last November was due to the negligence by relevant state agencies responsible for the approval and supervision of the project.
He added in his findings that the supervising agencies deliberately failed to carry out their functions because they were already compromised.
The coroner’s inquest had been set up to unravel the circumstances that led to the November 1, 2021 disaster.
Chief Magistrate Komolafe held that the building’s density and setback on the site showed gross violations of the Lagos State Building Regulations.
He noted that the project board which should have boldly shown the sensitive and important information of the names and addresses of the professionals who carried out the project were deliberately not provided.
According to him, “this act shows the approving and supervising agencies did not sanction the offender, suggesting that they were compromised.”
The court also held that there was no quality control and poor project management on the project site.
He noted that the building structure failure was due to the design errors and combined stress failure of the columns at the lower floors.
Chief Magistrate Komolafe also adopted the recommendations of the Council for the Regulations of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) on the matter.
He urged the relevant authorities concerned with the implementation of the recommendations to implement it accordingly.
It will be recalled that the 21 Floor Skyscraper being developed by Foreshore Homes owned by Femi Osibona suddenly collapsed the 1st of November 2021 in Ikoyi.
The Lagos State Government had set up an inquiry following the building collapse to know the immediate and remote causes of the building Collapse.
The General Manager of the Lagos State Building Control Agency was also placed on suspension in the wake of the Building Collapse.
44 People were killed in the collapsed building while several Others were injured.
This Coroner inquest is part of activities to bring closure for the families of the victims and in keeping with the Law of Lagos State.
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