A Lagos State Coroner’s Court investigating the collapse of a guest house within the Synagogue Church of All Nations will on February 10 resume hearing of evidence from witnesses.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the inquest was instituted under the Lagos State Coroner’s System Law No. 7 of 2007 for the purpose of unraveling the cause of the incident.
NAN also reports that 116 persons were killed after the six-storey building collapsed on September 12, 2014.
The Coroner, Oyetade Komolafe, had on December 23, 2014 adjourned till January 6 for further hearing.
However, the proceedings could not go on due to the strike by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria, which was eventually suspended on January 31.
A NAN correspondent who visited the coroner’s court was informed by the registrars of the new date fixed for resumption of the matter.
The registrars also confirmed that hearing notices had been sent to all parties and witnesses in the matter.
Testifying at the last sitting, Fola Soetan, the National Executive Coordinator of Life Savers Foundation, an NGO, had called for proper equipment of Nigeria’s rescue agencies.
Soetan said both the National Emergency Management Agency and the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency needed adequate equipment to perform their rescue operations.
Also testifying, SCOAN’s Chief Security Officer, Sunday Okojie, told the court that NEMA and LASEMA came ill-equipped for the job of digging out those who were trapped under the rubbles.
Okojie had claimed that both agencies came to the scene without an ambulance.
He said that the church provided 11 ambulances while the Nigerian Red Cross Society and Life Savers provided one each.
—
Follow The Eagle Online Channel on WhatsApp
