Building collapse: Plateau to demolish unapproved buildings

The Plateau Government said it would demolish structures in the state whose building plans were not approved by the appropriate authorities.
The Deputy Governor of the state, Prof. Sonni Tyoden, said this on Tuesday when he visited the scene of the building that collapsed in Jos.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that a two-storey building located at Delimi community of Jos North Local Government Area of the state collapsed on Monday.
NAN also reports that the incident left 14 persons, including Alhaji Rufai Kabiru, the landlord, dead.
Tyoden called on the Nigerian Society of Engineers to be up and doing in their professional responsibilities to prevent a re-occurrence of such disaster.
He said: “This thing that happened is a human creation, so we should be on the lookout to see that we prevent a reoccurrence.
“When people are constructing buildings they should make sure they get the appropriate authorities’ approvals which are either Jos Metropolitan Development Board or Ministry of Lands and Survey.
“The supervisory agencies should also do their own job to ensure that structures are approved before erecting.
“I am calling on the Plateau chapter of the Nigerian Society of Engineers to be up and doing and mobilise their members to do the right thing.
“Because if they are doing the right thing, we shouldn’t be having instances like this.
“Also, from now onward, JMDB, Ministry of Lands and Survey and the security agencies would move street to street to identify buildings that are not properly structured and mark them for demolition.
“And we are going to demolish them.”
The deputy governor commiserated with the Delimi community, families of those who lost their lives, and prayed that such incidence never occurred again.