The new general manager of the Lagos State Building Control Agency is a certain Mrs Abiola Kosegbe. Those who know her attest to her brilliance and commitment to the job of helping to minimise avoidable deaths in the state through building collapse.
Collapse of distressed or poorly constructed buildings is a nationwide phenomenon. What makes Lagos case special or different is the nature of how buildings had sprung up, especially since the 70s, particularly in central Lagos which has had more than its fair share in incidents of building collapse.
In several cases, nowhere are buildings rules and regulations breached more than on Lagos Island. There, recalcitrant and greedy house owners and developers put up structures that reasonable people see from the very start as disasters waiting to happen. And rather than being dissuaded by building control officials, they are compromised to look the other way, ostensibly after receiving dubious gratification.
When gnashing of teeth occurs due to building collapse which had been caused by developers and compromised officials of state, families begin to count losses of lives and damage to limbs and properties, and members of the public begin to proffer solutions that everyone knew about but which do not hold water with culprits.
Too many lives had been lost and a lot of deformities done to several. It is time therefore for government to find permanent panacea to this recurring problem. The LABSCA big boss name is Kosegbe, which means “Immoveable”. But given the terrifying dimension building collapse has assumed over the years, she must be ready to move those structures that pose grave danger to lives and properties, lest her own position in government is threatened.
In tackling this worrisome problem, the government and the governed must come to a common agreement that the inevitable must be done. Government must lead this crusade by increasing the equipment needed to voluntarily bring down distressed or poorly constructed structures without doing damage to the fabric or texture of the surroundings; and upping the degree of sanctions on the owners of the affected buildings and the compromised officials that turned the Nelson’s eye to the infractions committed before the bubble of building collapse burst.
Government ought to do more in the area of urban renewal and lead positive development in that regard, instead of abdicating its statutory responsibility to the citizens.
Community leaders, led by traditional heads, must do more sensitization to get citizens support to save their own lives and properties and prevail on callous owners and developers not to deliberately put people’s lives in jeopardy.
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