{"id":65665,"date":"2019-03-20T21:12:53","date_gmt":"2019-03-20T20:12:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=65665"},"modified":"2019-03-20T21:12:53","modified_gmt":"2019-03-20T20:12:53","slug":"accountabilitya-powerful-deterrence-to-building-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/uncategorized\/accountabilitya-powerful-deterrence-to-building-collapse\/","title":{"rendered":"Accountability:a powerful deterrence to building collapse \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
By TochukwuEzukanma<\/p>\n

In saner countries of the world, aworkman takes pride inthe quality of his
\nproducts. Apart from the pecuniary incentives of his labor,he appreciates
\nhis moral obligation to society to uphold professional standardsin his
\nwork, and, for his credibility, he strives for the excellence of his
\noutputsfor they define his professional hallmark. On the other hand, due
\nto the moraland ethical collapse of the Nigerian society, the workman is
\nindifferent tosocietal expectations and his professional credibility to
\nthe point of total disregardsto the quality of his output.<\/p>\n

Asa result, some Nigerian builders mortgage professional standards, worthy
\nworkmanshipand quality to profit maximization, and thus, end up building
\nstructurallydefective buildings. But then, it may be understandable that
\nan entrepreneur drivenmostly by profit violates professional standards and
\ncircumvents building codesand ordinances for profit. But what about the
\ngovernment agency empowered by lawto regulate the builders and ensure that
\nthey adhere to government stipulated constructionstandards? In Lagos
\nState, the agency responsible for these is the Lagos State BuildingControl
\nAgency (LASBCA).<\/p>\n

Thepowers and responsibilities of the agency are enormous: controls and
\nregulatesevery phase of the construction process, and identifies and
\ndemolishesdistressed and nonconforming structures. If this agency is
\nincorruptible andefficient, there will be virtually no building collapse
\nin Lagos State. It isthe corruption and inefficiency of LASBCA that
\naccount for the repeated buildingcollapse in the state. LASBCA officials
\naccept bribes from builders and thenrelax the stringency of the approval
\nand inspection processes. Thus, allowingfor the use of substandard
\nmaterials and unqualified labor, and breach ofbuilding codes and
\nordinances, and ultimately, the construction of structurallydefective
\nbuildings that will, sooner or later, collapse.<\/p>\n

Dueto corruption also, LASBCA has not been effective in the demolition
\nofdistressed and nonconforming structures. As such, although the collapse
\nof a buildingis preceded by conspicuous signs that allow LASBCA ample time
\nto evacuate anddemolish it, buildings still routinely cave-in on their
\nresidents, trapping, maimingand killing people. On March 13, 2019, a three
\nstorey building, still inhabitedby businesses, residents and an illegal
\nprimary school, collapsed in the Ita Fajiarea of Lagos Island. For long,
\nthe building showed glaring signs of imminent collapse.And, on three
\ndifferent occasions, officials of the LASBCA marked it for demolitionbut
\nit was never demolished. It was alleged that each time it was marked
\nfordemolition, the landlord forestalled it by bribing LASBCA officials.
\nFinally,the building caved-in, and twenty persons, many of them pupils of
\nthe school, died.In this country of ours that glories in violence and
\ntrivializes human life, weare inundated with figures of human death that
\nit is beginning to lose its enormityand gravity; it just has a statistical
\nring.<\/p>\n

Butthen, \u201cstatistics are like bikinis, what they reveal is important but
\nwhat theyhide is essential\u201d. The statistics (twenty deaths) hid poignant
\nand tear-jerkingnarratives that attended the Ita Faji tragedy. A father
\nwas lamenting the deathof his three children. For two weeks, they stayed
\nhome because he could not paytheir school fees. Then, on that ill-fated
\nday, he got their school fees readyand sent them back to school. As the
\nbuild collapsed, all his three childrendied. It was his birthday, and this
\n10 year old boy refused to go to school. Hewanted to stay home and romp
\naround in celebration of his birthday. But hisparents objected;
\nreluctantly, he went to school. He died in the buildingcollapse. On
\nreceiving the news of the death of her two children in thebuilding
\ncollapse, a young mother stepped out of her house, bought poison, tooka
\nportion of it and died. Statistics hid the personal trauma, anguish
\nandsorrow of those that lost their love ones. It failed to reveal the
\npersonalagony of each life irretrievably shattered by that preventable
\ncatastrophe.<\/p>\n

Thepreventable catastrophe was not prevented because of the corruption,
\ngreed and disdainfor human lives of the Nigerian society. A society that,
\nin its convolutedreligionism, becomes progressively selfish, corrupt,
\nfraudulent and murderous asit becomes increasingly religious. It would
\nhave been prevented, if not that venal,voracious, conscienceless officials
\nof LASBCA, repeatedly took bribe and renegedon the demolition of a fatally
\ndefective structure that imperiled the lives ofmany, including children.
\nIt was not prevented because unscrupulous officialsof the state Ministry
\nof Education, evidently, evidently, for a bribe, consentedto the continued
\noperation of all illegal school with one hundred registeredpupils; and the
\nschool operators, in their negligence, betrayed the trust reposedon them
\nby parents: that the school could guarantee the safety of theirchildren in
\ntheir learning environment.<\/p>\n

Asusual, the governor visited the site of the disaster, displayed genuine
\nconcerns,ordered investigation, etc. But, in the characteristic Nigerian
\nmodus operandi,the hoopla that attends this tragedy will die down after a
\nfew weeks, and itwill all relapse to business as usual. And, as usual,
\ngovernment officials willcontinue with their ingrained habits of accepting
\nbribes from builders toapprove shoddy constructions, and landlords to
\navoid the demolition of dangerously,defective structures. Invariably,
\nbuildings will continue to collapse and kill andmaim the innocent and
\nunsuspecting.<\/p>\n

Theantidote to this macabre routine is accountability on the part of the
\ngovernment.Accountability demands that the chairman of LASBCA and the
\nstate Commissionerfor Education take personal responsibilities for the
\ncorruption and derelictionof duty of their subordinates, and resign, and
\nindividual officials, in the agencyand ministry, whose actions and
\ninactions led to the Ita Faji calamity, should beseverely punished:
\narrested, prosecuted and jailed. Secondly, the bereavedfamilies should sue
\nfor damages demanding billions of naira. Those to be suedinclude the state
\nMinistry of Education, LASBCA, the landlord and the schoolproprietor.<\/p>\n

Althoughnothing can retrieve the dead or totally relieve the trauma and
\nanguish of thebereaved, it is extremely important that government
\nofficials, builders andlandlords learn the hard way that they will be held
\naccountable for theiractions and their consequences. This will be a power
\ndeterrent on their corruptactivities, irresponsibility and moral remiss
\nthat, in the past, resulted tobuilding collapses in Lagos.<\/p>\n

TochukwuEzukanma writes from Lagos, Nigeria<\/p>\n

maciln18@yahoo.com<\/a><\/p>\n

0803529 2908<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By TochukwuEzukanma In saner countries of the world, aworkman takes pride inthe quality of his products. Apart from the pecuniary incentives of his labor,he appreciates his moral obligation to society…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63031,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nAccountability:a powerful deterrence to building collapse \u00a0 - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/uncategorized\/accountabilitya-powerful-deterrence-to-building-collapse\/\" \/>\n<link rel=\"next\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/uncategorized\/accountabilitya-powerful-deterrence-to-building-collapse\/2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Accountability:a powerful deterrence to building collapse \u00a0 - Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By TochukwuEzukanma In saner countries of the world, aworkman takes pride inthe quality of his products. Apart from the pecuniary incentives of his labor,he appreciates his moral obligation to society…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/uncategorized\/accountabilitya-powerful-deterrence-to-building-collapse\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-03-20T20:12:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Tochukwu-Ezukanma.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"345\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/uncategorized\/accountabilitya-powerful-deterrence-to-building-collapse\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/uncategorized\/accountabilitya-powerful-deterrence-to-building-collapse\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Our Reporter\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\"},\"headline\":\"Accountability:a powerful deterrence to building collapse \u00a0\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-03-20T20:12:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/uncategorized\/accountabilitya-powerful-deterrence-to-building-collapse\/\"},\"wordCount\":978,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/uncategorized\/accountabilitya-powerful-deterrence-to-building-collapse\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Tochukwu-Ezukanma.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/uncategorized\/accountabilitya-powerful-deterrence-to-building-collapse\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/uncategorized\/accountabilitya-powerful-deterrence-to-building-collapse\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/uncategorized\/accountabilitya-powerful-deterrence-to-building-collapse\/\",\"name\":\"Accountability:a powerful deterrence to building collapse \u00a0 - Pointblank News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/uncategorized\/accountabilitya-powerful-deterrence-to-building-collapse\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/uncategorized\/accountabilitya-powerful-deterrence-to-building-collapse\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Tochukwu-Ezukanma.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-03-20T20:12:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/uncategorized\/accountabilitya-powerful-deterrence-to-building-collapse\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/uncategorized\/accountabilitya-powerful-deterrence-to-building-collapse\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Tochukwu-Ezukanma.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Tochukwu-Ezukanma.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":345},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/\",\"name\":\"Pointblank News\",\"description\":\"Just the news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\",\"name\":\"Our Reporter\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Our Reporter\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Accountability:a powerful deterrence to building collapse \u00a0 - Pointblank News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/uncategorized\/accountabilitya-powerful-deterrence-to-building-collapse\/","next":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/uncategorized\/accountabilitya-powerful-deterrence-to-building-collapse\/2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Accountability:a powerful deterrence to building collapse \u00a0 - Pointblank News","og_description":"By TochukwuEzukanma In saner countries of the world, aworkman takes pride inthe quality of his products. Apart from the pecuniary incentives of his labor,he appreciates his moral obligation to society…","og_url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/uncategorized\/accountabilitya-powerful-deterrence-to-building-collapse\/","og_site_name":"Pointblank News","article_published_time":"2019-03-20T20:12:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":345,"url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Tochukwu-Ezukanma.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Our Reporter","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Our Reporter","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/uncategorized\/accountabilitya-powerful-deterrence-to-building-collapse\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/uncategorized\/accountabilitya-powerful-deterrence-to-building-collapse\/"},"author":{"name":"Our Reporter","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c"},"headline":"Accountability:a powerful deterrence to building collapse \u00a0","datePublished":"2019-03-20T20:12:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/uncategorized\/accountabilitya-powerful-deterrence-to-building-collapse\/"},"wordCount":978,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/uncategorized\/accountabilitya-powerful-deterrence-to-building-collapse\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Tochukwu-Ezukanma.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/uncategorized\/accountabilitya-powerful-deterrence-to-building-collapse\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/uncategorized\/accountabilitya-powerful-deterrence-to-building-collapse\/","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/uncategorized\/accountabilitya-powerful-deterrence-to-building-collapse\/","name":"Accountability:a powerful deterrence to building collapse \u00a0 - Pointblank News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/uncategorized\/accountabilitya-powerful-deterrence-to-building-collapse\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/uncategorized\/accountabilitya-powerful-deterrence-to-building-collapse\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Tochukwu-Ezukanma.jpg","datePublished":"2019-03-20T20:12:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/uncategorized\/accountabilitya-powerful-deterrence-to-building-collapse\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/uncategorized\/accountabilitya-powerful-deterrence-to-building-collapse\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Tochukwu-Ezukanma.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Tochukwu-Ezukanma.jpg","width":600,"height":345},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/","name":"Pointblank News","description":"Just the news","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c","name":"Our Reporter","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Our Reporter"},"url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}