The Plateau State Government has resolved to demolish a four-storey shopping mall under construction in the Terminus area of Jos, the state capital, for non-compliance with building standards.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports part of the 180-shop mall collapsed on Sunday for non-adherence to standards.
Joshua Laven, Commissioner for Urban Development, who led professionals to the site of the collapsed building, said the government would risk the lives of its citizens.
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Laven said that the structure had no approved plan and had several defects that could not be condoned.
He said: “I can assure you that this building will not be allowed to stand because it contravened even the law of the land and we have served them notices not once, not twice.
“We will not endanger the lives of thousands of Nigerians who will come to engage in their visual activities here.
“I assure you that this quackery will not continue under the administration of Governor Caleb Mutfwang.”
Hart Bankat, General Manager, Jos Metropolitan Development Board, said the board had issued a demolition notice for work to stop, but the owner was persistent and refused to stop.
Bankat said: “We had told them the quality of the job being done here cannot be ascertained and we cannot approve of it.
“And it’s important to note that this whole structure you are seeing here has no approval.
“We had put it as one of the buildings we are going to demolish and we are not mincing words with this.
“This is going to be a testament to the readiness of JMDB, which is now a renewed organisation, to make sure that quacks do not take over sites and produce whatever they want to produce.
“We have not met any engineer or any structural person on this site to be able to tell us if it’s a professional handling this project.”
Yakubu Ashoms, Chairman, Nigerian Society of Engineers, Jos Branch, said he could not ascertain whether an engineer was a member of the society because he did not know him.
According to Ashoms, the said engineer would face a severe penalty if found to be a member of the NSE.
Terver Tyosar, North Central Zonal Coordinator of the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute, said they would collect samples and conduct research to know why the building collapsed.
NAN reports that other professionals at the collapsed site were officials of the Nigerian Institutes of Architects, Nigerian Institute of Builders and Building Collapse Prevention Committee of the Nigerian Institute of Civil Engineers.
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