Senate tasks COREN on professionals for building construction

By : John Akubo (Abuja) and Oluwaseun Akingboye (Akure)

Date: 10 November 2021 3:43am WAT

Rescue workers save a survivor that was trapped under the rubble of the collapsed 21-storey building in Ikoyi, Lagos, on November 2, 2021. - Nigerian rescue crews pulled two more survivors out of a collapsed Lagos high-rise building on November 2, 2021 and were communicating with others buried inside the rubble, a day after the disaster killed at least seven and left many more trapped. The 21-storey building was still under construction when it fell abruptly into a pile of concrete slabs on Monday in the wealthy Ikoyi district of Nigeria's commercial capital. (Photo by Benson Ibeabuchi / AFP)

[FILES] Newly collapsed building under construction at Osapa London, Lekki, Lagos

NIESV decorates Akeredolu as patron, says he has made Ondo investors-friendly

Following the death of over 44 Nigerians in the 21-storey building that collapsed in Ikoyi, Lagos, last week, the Senate has challenged the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) to ensure that only competent and qualified professionals are involved in building construction.

Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, in his remarks following a point of order raised by Oluremi Tinubu (APC-Lagos) during plenary, said all professional bodies, such as civil engineers, structural engineers, their bodies, their institute and COREN must ensure that only certified, competent and qualified professionals are involved in putting up structures.

Lawan, who also commiserated with the people of Lagos State and particularly the family of those who lost their lives or were affected in one way or the other, directed the Nigerian Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to work with the state government to provide necessary assistance to survivors.

He, thereafter, moved that a minute silence be observed in honour of the deceased.

Earlier, while moving the motion, Tinubu described the incident as “a disaster of epic proportion, the magnitude of which cannot be overlooked.”

MEANWHILE, the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) has decorated Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN), as patron of the professional body.

President and Chairman of the Council, Emmanuel Okas Wike, decorated the governor at the Cocoa Conference Hall of the Governor’s Office, Alagbaka, Akure, the Ondo State capital.

Wike said that the council and the entire members of the body approved the decoration of the governor as its patron in recognition of his giant developmental strides aimed at taking the state to the next level.

He noted that Akeredolu had made the state an investment destination and stressed that the efforts of the governor at combating the security challenges facing the state are commendable.

Akeredolu, in his response, said his administration had made the state more accessible in a secured way, adding that there are three airways flying different routes from Akure, Lagos and Abuja.

He appreciated the professional body and gave the assurance that he would not disappoint the people.