Ike Nnachi, Abakaliki
Ebonyi State government has accused a member of Ebonyi State House of Assembly, Ukie Ezeali of erecting the building which collapsed Tuesday night in Abakaliki without permit.
It threatened to arrest and prosecute Mr Ezeali for allegedly going ahead with the building construction despite his application for permit being rejected by relevant authorities.
Commissioner for Capital City and Urban Development, Sunday Inyima stated this on Tuesday night at the site of the building collapse.
He said two persons who were overseeing the collapsed building for the lawmaker located beside the Alex Ekwueme Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki have been arrested
The three storey building which allegedly belonged to Ezeali, who is representing Afikpo North East State Constituency in the House of Assembly, collapsed on Tuesday trapping two persons who were later rescued.
At the time of the collapse, two persons were said to be trapped inside the rubbles but were later rescued last night.
The collapsed building is located near the Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital Abakaliki.
The rescued victims were rushed to the the emergency unit of the Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki last night in critical condition.
One of the labourers, who escaped from the collapsed building, told reporters he escaped because he went to wash his hand.
“I was loading a bag of stones and the owner of the house was here with me, telling me to park it very well. He just finished paying us.
“Only one person, who is dumb was trapped inside and he is still there. One other who was rescued has been rushed to hospital.
“The building didn’t give any sign that it is about to collapse. I was lucky because my tools were inside. I just said let me wash my hands here before I will go inside the building to collect my tools,” he stated.
Speaking to reporters at the site of the collapsed building, Mr Inyima accused the lawmaker of indulging in illegal building construction.
He said: “What happened here is very unfortunate, we have a building collapse today. I was called and I mobilised my men and we saw that the building actually collapsed.
“We have been able to rescue one person (at that time), because we have two persons within the building that collapsed. One person is still being trapped. And we are doing everything possible to ensure that we rescue him alive
“Originally, this is an illegal structure, because the owner of the building came to our ministry and the HOD on works told him that this place is not buildable.
“And the drawing he gave was not approved, but because this place is inside the premises of of the Hospital, anytime you are passing here, the monitoring team may not have observed that building is going on here.
“We expected that as an honorable member of the state house of assembly, he should have taken caution and restricted himself from going ahead with this structure, but he defied our instructions.
“We have arrested two persons who are overseeing the site for him. And I have called the honourable member to report himself to the police,” he stated.
Commissioner for Works and Transportation, Stanley Lebechi Mbam, described the building collapse as a huge embarrassment to Ebonyi State government.
He, however, warned stakeholders, especially those that are building houses to shun patronising quacks in the State, adding that the collapse of the building may be as a result of patronising quacks.
Also, Mr Eni Enyinnaya of the Engineering Regulation Monitoring Unit of the Council for Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, (COREEN), expressed sadness over the building collapse in the state.
While describing the the collapse as a huge economic loss to the owner, Mr Eni warned citizens in the state to refrain from patronising quacks to avert a repeat of such incident.
Mr Ezeali could not be reached for comments at the time of this report.
He did not take calls or reply to messages sent to him for reaction.
Nigeria has highest building collapse record in Africa
In 2023, the Director-General of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, Farouk Salim, said that Nigeria has the highest number of building collapses in Africa.
According to the Building Collapse Prevention Guild’s data, there were at least 62 building collapses in 2022, resulting in 84 deaths and 113 injuries.
Studies show that over 461 buildings have collapsed in Nigeria, with more than 1,090 deaths recorded and many injured from 1974 to July 2021.
For broader historical context, analysis of historical records indicates that the average annual death toll as a result of building collapse in Nigeria is approximately 25 persons.
