Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has declared three days of
mourning over the Ikoyi building collapse, which occurred on Monday.
The state government claimed that no fewer than 32 persons
are believed to have died in the incident.
This was contained in a press statement by the Commissioner
for Information, Gbenga Omotoso, on Thursday.
The statement read, “All flags are to be flown at half-mast
in public and private buildings and official engagements cancelled during the
mourning period.
“The Lagos State Government, once again, commiserates with
all those who lost their loved ones in the unfortunate incident.
“Governor Sanwo-Olu has visited the site thrice to encourage
the rescuers and console relations of those who are believed to have been
trapped in the 21-storey building.
“He was today at the hospital to cheer up those injured
before swearing in a six-man panel of Inquiry to find out why the building went
down and recommend measures to prevent such incidents.”
Sanwo-Olu earlier on Thursday inaugurated members of the
investigation tribunal that will conduct an inquiry into the misconduct
responsible for the collapse of a 21-storey structure on Gerrard Road in Ikoyi
on Monday.
The Governor also signed the instrument legitimising the
composition of the panel and empowering the tribunal to invite or summon anyone
and organisation useful to the investigation.
Members of the tribunal, who are totally drawn from the
private sector, took the oath at the event held in the LASWA Building at
Falomo, Ikoyi. Their duty begins immediately and they are expected to report
back within four weeks.
President of Nigeria Institute of Town Planners (NITP), Mr.
Toyin Ayinde, is the chairman of the panel, while Ekundayo Onajobi, a lawyer in
a private law firm, is the Secretary.
Other panel members are a structural engineer, Dr. Akintilo
Idris Adeleke; an architect, Yinka Ogundairo; representative of Institute of
Builders, Mr. Godfrey O. Godfrey, and Mrs. Bunmi Ibrahim, a real estate lawyer.
Sanwo-Olu, who described the event as a “sad one” for Lagos
was visibly in a sombre mood during the inauguration.
The Governor said that the public deserved to know what went
wrong. He stressed that the work of the panel would not bring back the lives
lost, but added that it would help to prevent reoccurrence of such tragic
events.
He said, “We are gathered here to perform a sad but
necessary duty, which is the inauguration of a 6-member Panel of Inquiry into
the collapse of the 21-storey building at Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, on Monday. It is
a solemn moment for me personally, but this is an important assignment. Indeed,
the generation coming after will not forgive us if we don’t do the right thing
on this incident.
“The inauguration of this panel shows sincerely that the
State Government is interested in unravelling and get to the root cause of what
happened to the building, so that everyone concerned, including the Government,
will learn from the very unfortunate incident. Lagosians and the world will be
watching and waiting keenly, with the full expectation that the immediate and
remote causes of this tragedy will be uncovered.”
Sanwo-Olu identified with distraught families of victims
trapped under the collapsed structure, expressing the belief that the outcome
of the investigation would assuage their pains and worries.
The oath taken by the tribunal members, the Governor said,
empowers them with adequate privileges of Government powers to conduct
independent investigation without fear, favour, interference and restrictions.
The Governor believed the tribunal members would bring their
expertise and professionalism to bear in unravelling the infractions that
brought down the building.
“What this tribunal will be doing over the course of the
next few weeks will have important implications for building safety and for
emergency response, not just in Lagos, but in the entire country. It will also
go a long way towards ensuring that the families of the innocent victims of
this avoidable tragedy experience some sort of closure and get justice,”
Sanwo-Olu said.
Ayinde said Lagos was in its “dark period”, given the record
of fatalities from the site of the building collapse.
He pledged on behalf of members to discharge the duty with
all sense of responsibility and in line with ethics.
“We accept at our own liberty and with humility the
important assignment the State has placed before us. We will go ahead with a
sense of dedicated responsibility. This exercise can only make the expected
difference if we all agree to place value on Nigerian life. As members, we
promise to be guided by professional standards and hope that we will chart a
new course that will guarantee the safety of lives of Nigeria citizens,” Ayinde
said.
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