By Tochukwu Ezukanma
Accordingto the Federal Ministry of Power, Works & Housing, fifty four
buildingscollapsed in Nigeria within a period of five years (between 2012
and 2016). Thisis an average of more than ten buildings collapses every
year, which is, bywhatever standard, unnervingly excessive. And every
building cave-in leaves atrail of woes: death, pains and sorrow, and
un-healable emotional and psychologicalwounds.
Recently,a 3 storey building, still occupied by businesses, residents and
a primaryschool, collapsed in Ita Faji area of Lagos, killing twenty
persons, many of themprimary school pupils.
Asusual, the tragedy spawned emotive responses and solicitous visits
byhigh-level government officials. In his response, the president,
MohammaduBuhari, expressed his distress and commiserated with the affected
families. Thegovernor of Lagos State, Akinwonmi Ambode, visited the site
of the catastrophe,lamented the tragedy, condoled with the bereaved
families, and ordered theimmediate demolition of all the defective
structures already marked fordemolition in Lagos State. These visits and
cogent remarks were necessary and laudable.However, the problem with the
Nigeria power elite is not in political posturing,and in display of
concerns, and making germane statements, for bereavedfamilies in times of
emergencies and disasters. It is also not in orderinginvestigations and
issuing of reports.
Theirproblem is in accountability. Public accountability is borne out of a
sense ofresponsibility on the part of the governing for the governed. The
Nigerianpower elite are yet to realize that their legitimacy and moral
authority derivesolely from the trust reposed on them by the people, and
that once they betraythis trust, they must resign. The caving in of a
fatally defective structure onthe innocent and unsuspecting, especially,
primary school students was anegregious betrayal of the public trust by
the Ambode administration,especially, the Lagos State Building Control
Agency (LASBCA), that regulatesbuilding construction and the state
Ministry of Education that allowed the continuedoperation of an illegal
primary school in that exceedingly dilapidated building.
Thefundamental reasons for building collapse in Lagos State are the
corruption andprofessional negligence of the officials of the LASBCA. It
is their statutoryroles to monitor and regulate building construction, and
thus, ensure thatbuilders/developers strictly compliance with professional
standards and governmentguidelines and ordinances in building
construction; and to identifystructurally defective buildings and evacuate
and demolish them. It is theirfailure to thoroughly carry out their
statutory duties that results in buildingcollapses in the state. They fail
to do their work because they are corrupt,and are therefore, bribed by
builders and landlords. This allows the builders touse substandard
building materials, employ quacks and circumvent buildingguidelines and
ordinances in the attempt to maximize profit. It makes itpossible for
landlords to forestall the evacuation and demolition of their
buildingsalready designated for demolition, and thus, continue to collect
rent from them.
Publicaccountability demands that the chairman of LASBCA and the state
Commissionerfor Education take personal responsibilities for the
corruption and derelictionof duties (of their subordinates) that resulted
to the Ita Faji disaster; andresign immediately. In addition, officials of
LASBCA and the state educationministry, that are, in any way, culpable of
acts of corruption and negligencethat resulted in that calamity and the
continued operation of an illegalprimary school in the collapsed building
should be arrested, persecuted andjailed. It will serve as a powerful
deterrence to future building collapses inLagos, as the officials of
LASBCA, Ministry of Education, and, by extension,every ministry and agency
will learn, the hard way, that they will be heldresponsible for their
professional misdeeds.
Disconcertingly,thus far, the state government has not demonstrated any
resolve to hold anyoneaccountable: no one will be forced to resign, and no
one will be arrested,prosecuted and jailed. Already, officials of LASBCA
are looking for scapegoats.They are blaming the landlords for their
inability to evacuate and demolish unsafebuildings before they cave-in on
their occupants. They claim the landlords refuseto vacate structurally
defective buildings marked for demolition. But theirprotestations ring
hollow. LASBCA has both regulatory and enforcement powers. Itis empowered
by the law to forcibly evacuate and demolish structures already
designatedfor demolition.
Toevade political responsibility for what is a flagrant blunder by
hisadministration, Governor Ambode inaugurated a five-man panel to
investigate the cause of the collapseof the three-storey building. The
panel is to determine the level of negligenceon the part of the developer
or owner, role of the state government, and then, makeappropriate
recommendations and proffer remedial measures to stem buildingcollapse in
the future. Whatnonsense? So, despite the extremely high number of
building collapses in LagosState and the plethora of investigations that
followed them, and the reports thatemanated from these investigations, the
Lagos State government is yet to knowthe reasons for building collapse and
the remedy to it? The reasons forbuilding collapse in Lagos state are
conspicuously obvious: corruption andprofessional negligence, and its only
remedy is public accountability.
To set up an investigative panel to determine what isalready known is
political trumpery. It is political manipulation by a graspingpolitical
class consumed by greed, giddy withpower and flush with wealth that is
contemptuously indifferent to the ever increasingplight of the masses and
disdainful of the life of the common man. To continuethis political
deception with an issue that has resulted in the death of somany, and
portends to result in even more deaths is tantamount to gambling withhuman
lives. It is coldblooded shenanigan that casts Nigeria for what it
reallyis, a menagerie, and Governor Ambode as a clownish hypocrite.
TochukwuEzukanma writes from Lagos, Nigeria