The National President of the Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG), Kunle Awobodu, has said that there are over 1,000 buildings unfit for human habitation in Lagos Island.
He said this in reaction to the collapse of a building containing a primary school in the Ita-Faaji area of Lagos Island. Speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Awobodu, revealed that his group had reported such distressed buildings to the notice of the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) for demolition.
“There are over 1,000 distressed other buildings of this nature in Lagos, which, if nothing is done to demolish them, they will still collapse, resulting in more calamities in the state,” he said.
“The collapsed building had been marked for demolition about three times, but the building regulatory agency has not demolished it.
“We are moving round the circle and this has to stop. Let the building control agency take the bull by the horn, by ensuring that all distressed buildings in the state are identified and demolished.
“Let the state government look for preventive measures, rather than spending money for evacuation, investigation and remediation after the calamities and damages have occurred.”
He further asked all the agencies responsible for monitoring buildings to be more proactive rather than wait till buildings collapse.
He also called on architects, building engineers, bricklayers and the end-users to live up to the expectations by complying with the construction rules and regulations guiding the industry.