Ikoyi Building Collapse: Sanwo-Olu Moves To Implement Panel’s Report

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Wednesday announced the constitution of a four-man committee led by the Commissioner for Special Duties, Mr Tayo Bamgbose-Martins, to look into the findings of the panel on the collapsed Ikoyi building as a first step towards the implementation of the recommendations on the collapse of the 21-storey building which caved in on Monday November 1st, 2021.

Other members of the committee are; Head of Service, Mr. Hakeem Muri-Okunola; Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General, Mr. Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN) and his Agriculture counterpart, Ms. Abisola Olusanya, an architect.

The governor made the announcement during the presentation of the report of the Panel at Lagos House, Ikeja by its chairman, Mr. Toyin Ayinde.

The Governor while commending the Toyin-Ayinde led panel for their commitment and quick response to the assignment noted that the committee constituted would bring forward a report that will be considered by the Lagos State Executive Council.

“Let me on behalf of the people and the government of Lagos State first acknowledge the very difficult task that has been passed on to you and the commitments and the quick response that each and every one of you gave to the assignment. We know that you all have been chosen from different professional backgrounds but you were indeed ready to serve the people for this very important assignment.

“Let me therefore commend and thank you for that exercise. I will be constituting a four-man committee almost immediately that will read through the report and I am giving them the end of next week to get back to the State Executive Council,” Governor Sanwo-Olu said.

Speaking during the presentation, the chairman of the panel revealed that the during the course of its investigations, it visited the project site for an on the spot assessment, coordinated the activities of the consultants who conducted the tests on the site, received and reviewed documents from relevant MDAs and conducted 35 interviews.

He said they also interrogated 91 persons, requested and received  21 memoranda and accessed the home of the late CEO of Fourscore Heights Limited, Mr. Olufemi Osibono, with a view to gathering useful documents.

He said: “The tribunal had the opportunity to access the home of the late CEO of Fourscore Heights Limited in the presence of members of his family, where some documents that were scanned helped in gaining further insights into the case, particularly the processes that led to the construction and eventual collapse.“The tribunal also hosted the representation of the developer’s company, comprising two legal firms. It is on record that in their first and second appearances, the lawyers expressed the fact that they were external lawyers to the company and had little knowledge about the case in hand.

“Having spent approximately six weeks on this assignment, we now wish to make our submission to the Governor of Lagos State who constituted the tribunal. We need to note however that building collapses is rooted in the collapse of values, morals and ethics, which we need to work on as a nation. We cannot sow the wind and not expect to reap the whirlwind. Therefore, ethics and due diligence need to be restored.”

The panel of inquiry had Ayinde, President of the National Institute of Town Planners as Chairman while members are a structural engineer, Dr. Akintilo Idris; an architect, Yinka Ogundairo; a builder, Mr. Godfrey Godfrey; a real estate lawyer, Mrs. Bunmi Ibrahim and a lawyer, Ekundayo Onajobi, the secretary of the panel.

Governor Sanwo-Olu had  on Thursday, November 4, 2021, inaugurated the six-member panel of inquiry to investigate the cause of the collapse of the building.

The panel was inaugurated at the headquarters of the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) at Falomo, where members of the panel had their sittings. Governor Sanwo-Olu also signed an executive bill to give legal backing to the panel during its inauguration.