The Coroner, Chief Magistrate O.A. Komolafe, yesterday found that the collapse of the 21-storey building was due to the negligence in adhering to the best practices by the relevant agencies responsible for approval and supervision of the project.
Komolafe delivered the judgment at the Lagos Island Coroner Division, at Court 4, Surulere, while unraveling the circumstances that led to the Nov. 1, 2021, 21-storey building collapse at 44, Gerard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.
In his findings, Komolafe, stated that the building’s density and setback on the site showed gross violations of the Lagos State Building Regulations.
He mentioned that the project board which should have boldly shown the sensitive and important informations of the names and addresses of the professionals who carried out the project were deliberately not provided.
According to him, this act shows the approving and supervising agencies did not sanction the offender, suggesting that they were compromised.
He said that the building structure failure was due to the design errors and combined stress failure of the columns at the lower floors.
Komolafe also said that there was lack of quality assurance/control and poor project management on the project site.
He also adopted the recommendation contained in the Council for the Regulations of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) report as the report of the inquest.
He urged the relevant authorities concerned with the implementation of the recommendations to implement it accordingly.
