The Deputy Leader, Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Lola Akande, has blamed the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development for the collapse of the building at Ojodu area of the state on Tuesday afternoon.
Akande, who paid a visit to the site, expressed shock over the incident, lamenting that the building situated at 15, Bashiru Street, Ojodu, belonging to the FourSquare Gospel Church, had been marked for demolition, but was left undemolished until it collapsed, claiming the lives of two people and injuring others.
At the scene of the incident, she sympathized with the victims, adding: “I want to sympathise with the victims and the members of the church. I blame the ministry officials who had marked the building for demolition.
“The State Government should embark on demolishing buildings marked for demolition to save lives of the people rather than collapsing on the people.”
Akande said that the House had received several letters from the public calling on the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development to come and demolish some defective buildings in the state and that she had personally contacted the State Emergency Agency to promptly rescue some people trapped in the collapsed building.
Rescue teams comprising the National Emergency Management Agency, the Lagos State Emergency Agency, the Police, the Federal Road Safety Corps, the National Security and Civil Defence Corps, the Fire Service and the State Ambulance Service carried out rescue operation to bring out those buried in the rubbles.
Also speaking, the Baale of Ojodu, Alhaji Nojeem Aro, said the incident happened at about 4.30pm on Tuesday, confirming that the building had been marked for demolition since two years ago.
Aro also disclosed that the victims were the site workers such as carpenters and bricklayers.
He confirmed that a dead person was brought out from the rubbles while one person was trapped as at the time of filling this report.
None of the members of the church was available to comment on the incident.
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