Sanwo-Olu orders probe into Ikoyi building collapse amid claims LASG stopped construction in 2020
Scene of the building collapse. Inset: Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has called for calm among residents, while ordering an immediate investigation into the collapse of a 21-storey residential building known as 360 Degrees Towers on Gerrard Road, Ikoyi which occurred around 2 pm on Monday.
The governor, in a statement signed by his aide, Gbenga Omotoso, said findings would be made public in due course.
This comes as President Muhammadu Buhari, on Monday, also sent a condolence message to the families of the victims and called for rescue efforts to be intensified.
Search and rescue are ongoing with four rescued and six confirmed dead as of Tuesday morning. According to eyewitnesses, the Managing Director, Fourscore Heights Limited, Mr Femi Osibona, the real estate developer behind the property, is one of about 50 trapped in the rubble.
There have been reports that the Lagos State Government sealed the property last year and ordered the developer to discontinue the project, as the building was allegedly not subjected to procedural approvals from the state’s agencies and other authorities.
Following the collapse, the General Manager, Lagos State Building Control Agency, Mr Gbolahan Oki, was quoted by the News Agency of Nigeria as saying, “He got an approval for a 15-storey building and he exceeded his limit. I am on ground here and the materials he used are so inferior and terrible.
“The materials he used, the reinforcement, are so terrible. He got approval for 15 floors but built 21. I think he has been locked down. He had been arrested before now.”
However, the comments have not been officially confirmed.
When our marketing team visited the project in August 2021, it was marketed as a 15-storey building, not a 21-storey building.