Ikoyi building collapse: Sanwo-Olu promises to implement recommendations as panel submits report 60 days after

Set up four-man implementation committee

The Investigative Panel set up by the Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu to probe the collapse of a 21-storey building on Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos has finally submitted its report 60 days after it was inaugurated.

Governor Sanwo-Olu had inaugurated the six-man panel on November 4, 2021, with a mandate to submit its report after 30 days.

Members of the panel include the President of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP), Toyin Ayinde; Dr Akintiyan Idris; Yinka Ogundairo; Godfrey O. Godfrey;  a lawyer (Mrs.) Bunmi Ibrahim and Ekundayo Onajobi (Panel secretary).

45 bodies including the owner of the building, Femi Osibona were recovered from the site of the collapsed building, while 15 persons survived.

Ayinde, who chaired the panel, expressed hope that the findings and recommendations of the panel’s report would be implemented to bring a lasting solution to incidents of building collapse not only in Lagos State but nationally.

Ayinde on behalf of the panel members, appreciated the Governor for giving them the opportunity to serve, noting that the panel spent approximately six weeks on the assignment and submitted the report as well as electronic recordings of all the sections and videos of proceedings in a hard drive to the Lagos State Attorney-General.

The chairman said the panel visited the project site for a general assessment, coordinated the activities of the consultants who conducted tests on the site, received and reviewed documents from relevant MDAs and conducted 35 interviews. It 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: “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 collapse 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.”

MEANWHILE, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has set up a four-man committee led by the Commissioner for Special Duties, Mr Tayo Bamgbose-Martins, an engineer, as a first step to the implementation of the report.

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, who is an architect.

The governor, who constituted the committee after receiving the panel report at Lagos House, Ikeja, said the committee would bring forward a report to be considered by the Lagos State Executive Council.

He commended members of the Toyin Ayinde-led panel for their commitment and quick response to the assignment given to them by the State Government.