The Lagos State government has announced that Fourscore Homes Limited, the firm developing the 21-storey building that collapsed on Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, on November 1, 2021, will face criminal prosecution.
This according to a statement made available to Channels Television on Thursday is following the recommendation contained in the White Paper on the incident.
At least 50 persons were killed in the tragedy which occurred last year. The owner of the firm Mr. Femi Osibona was reported dead in the accident too.
The state government in the statement also announced that the other two structures being simultaneously constructed in the vicinity are to be demolished because they failed structural integrity tests. They will be pulled down through controlled demolition.
he review panel rejected two recommendations for being nebulous.
The government accepted the recommendation that Fourscore Heights Limited, owners of the collapsed building, be prosecuted in view of the loss of lives involved in the tragedy.
The white paper frowned at a situation in which Fourscore was builder and architect – all rolled into one. For this, the tribunal concluded that Fourscore Heights did not do the right thing, negligence that led to the loss of lives.
“This included all those that were involved in the 2019 approval of the collapsed building. The civil servants are to first face the personnel management board, in line with the public service rules. The disciplinary process is to be set up immediately and concluded within 14 days.
“Apart from civil servants, some professionals have also been referred to the professional bodies for disciplinary actions. The list here included engineers, town planners, and architects; while some companies have also been referred to the Architects Registration Council of Nigeria for disciplinary actions for their roles in the collapsed building. Besides this, some indicted companies such as the urban primer have also been blacklisted for the roles they played in the tragedy.”
However, one Oluwole Oludimu of Prowess Engineering Limited was highly commended for exhibiting the highest professionalism in challenging circumstances and standing firm despite intimidation by the developer and subsequent removal from the site by his firm.
The government also accepted the recommendation that an audit exercise by an independent consortium of professionals to scrutinise all high-rise buildings in the state.
Also accepted was the recommendation that there should be training for all officials involved in the building approval section, with more hands recruited to assist agencies that are short-staffed.