The Lagos House of Assembly has called on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to compensate families of the victims of the collapsed 21-storey building in Ikoyi.

This was followed by a motion moved by Nurein Akinsanya (Mushin I), who is also the Chairman of the House Committee on Physical Planning and Urban Development, during plenary on Monday in Lagos. 

While speaking on the motion, the Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, said it was an unfortunate development and a disaster, given the loss of lives and the attendant economic woes. 

“We should exercise patience before passing comment. We should wait until the committee looking into it unravels the cause.

“The agencies saddled with the responsibility have not done well. We ought to act as a house to oversight the situation.

“The status of the investors should be checked, and we should commiserate with the families of those who lost their lives.

“Government should also compensate the families. If the agencies had done the needful, we would not have this sad occurrence,” he said.

Earlier, the lawmakers had urged the governor to direct relevant agencies to ensure that all requirements for buildings, as stipulated in the extant laws of the state, were strictly adhered to.

Mr Akinsanya in his submission said, “the House expresses worries over the wide speculations that the building was raised to 21 floors, contrary to the 15 floors approved by the State Physical Planning Permit Authority (LASPPPA) for the owner.

The lawmaker cited similar building collapses in the past such as “the five-storey building that collapsed in Lekki in November 2006 and the three-storey building that collapsed in Ita Faaji, Lagos Island in 2016.”

He attributed the cause to “unqualified or unskilled builders, use of sub-standard building materials, illegal conversion or alterations to existing structures and lack of maintenance, to mention a few.”

The assembly mandated the house committee on physical planning and urban development to invite the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development and other agencies.

According to the lawmakers, agencies to be invited are the ones saddled with the responsibilities of issuing approval and monitoring construction and project development.

They said this was to ascertain the level of compliance with the extant laws and regulations relating to buildings in the state.

(NAN)