The collapse on Friday of a six-storey building at Synagogue Church of All Nations in Ikotun, Lagos, was a triple tragedy. Not only were lives and property destroyed, it also demonstrated the failure of state institutions to protect citizens by simple adherence to rules. Worse, it exposed the prevailing culture of impunity as demonstrated in the bizarre reaction of church officials.
The tragedy was only the latest in frequent building collapses in the country. According to press reports, the six-storey building suddenly caved in, burying hundreds of persons in the rubble. Conflicting accounts say the four upper floors were still under construction and that neighbours had noticed it sway in recent times, claims that can only be established by a thorough investigation.
But the human cost is undeniable and its true extent is still unfolding. Latest figures by the National Emergency Management Agency indicate that 70 corpses, many of them foreigners and mostly women, had been recovered by Wednesday, while 131 had been rescued alive, including a 45-year-old woman who survived after being trapped four days under the rubble.
The Lagos State government cannot escape censure for this tragedy. For a state that has suffered numerous building collapses in recent years, the Synagogue tragedy, except investigations uncover deliberate sabotage, is a ringing indictment of the inadequacy of its building control and monitoring enforcement. It calls into question its capacity to ensure strict compliance with its building codes and the efficiency of its agencies to monitor and prevent such disasters. The building was being built in full public view at the densely populated Ikotun area of the city and effective monitoring by physical planning and building control officials ought to have noticed and acted accordingly.
Unless they change their narratives, the General Manager of the Lagos State Building Control Agency, Abimbola Animashaun, and the officials of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, have told reporters that the church did not have approval to add three floors to the original two-storey building, a grave infraction. “We have investigated and found that they (SCOAN) had no approval for the additional structures,” Animashaun told reporters at the scene. The state Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Planning, Olutoyin Ayinde, added, “We have no proof that the church had permit to add to the existing structure.” LSBCA and the Council of Registered Engineers have commenced investigations but, already, preliminary findings show that the church may have tough questions to answer. Requests to SCOAN to show the approvals have not been met.
The behaviour of the church officials has been bizarre and sickening. Reports say that, rather than quickly mobilise help, church members were hostile to rescuers and indeed initially prevented neighbours and officials from fully securing the disaster site. Public Relations Officer of the National Emergency Management Agency, Ibrahim Farinloye, said, “The church members have been very aggressive and hostile to us; they attacked us and we had to withdraw our services. I was attacked; officials of LSBCA and the general manager of LASEMA were also attacked…” There were also reports of attacks on journalists and smashing of cameras.
Confronted with such a tragedy, even the conduct of the head of the church, Temitope Joshua, was not initially helpful. First, he and his members sought to downplay the number of dead, giving the figures as “only three”, and later, as the bodies piled up, “less than 10”, as if the death of even one person is acceptable in the face of suspicions that the church might have been careless. South Africa alone has since lamented that it lost 67 of its nationals in the disaster.
Joshua added a fresh twist by showing a video clip of an aircraft purportedly hovering over the building shortly before its collapse and alleged sabotage and threats against the church and his person. Although this sounds rather diversionary, investigators should examine all angles to unravel the cause or causes of the collapse and with a firm resolve to punish all those found culpable, to prevent the frequent collapses.
Experts say buildings collapse due to use of low quality building materials, incompetent artisans, weak supervision, non-compliance with specifications/standards, poor design, poor maintenance and weak foundations. More crucially, corruption and laxity at state and local levels allow builders to erect structurally weak buildings that may eventually end up collapsing when subjected to natural or man-made stress.
We cannot continue to lose lives and property to building collapse. The problem is largely due to lack of strict enforcement rather than an absence of laws or regulations. There should be no sacred cows. The state government should have seized the site immediately as it had done to other disaster sites in the past. Those who obstructed rescue efforts should be quickly fished out and prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to impunity. Religious organisations should demonstrate a higher level of responsibility than the unruly behaviour put up by SCOAN.
Should investigations confirm the failure of Synagogue to obtain permits before adding new floors, all those responsible should face criminal prosecution for manslaughter, including state officials who might have connived or may seek to conjure up backdated documents.
More importantly, this should instruct Governor Babatunde Fashola that much more needs to be done to compel greater efficiency by state agencies and officials and ensure strict compliance with building codes to end repeated buildings collapse.
