Adebisi Onanuga
A LAGOS high court sitting at Igbosere heard on Thursday that the collapsed Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) guest house satisfied the British Standard Codes when it was subjected to investigations.
Professor, Patrick Nwankwo, an international professor in building and structural engineering stated this while giving evidence before the trial judge, Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo.
Led in evidence by Mr Olalekan Ojo (SAN), Nwankow maintained that the collapsed guest house had nothing to do with structural deficiencies that the structural elements of the building before its collapse were was accurate and sufficiently adequate.
Professor Nwankwo is the eighth defence witness in the on-going trial of the contractors and supervisors of the collapsed Synagogue building which claimed over 100 lives in September 12, 2014 before Justice Lateef Akapo at Igbosere high court, Lagos.
Nwankwo said he learnt of the collapsed building in the media and from the fourth defendant in the case, Engr Oladele Ogundeji who was the supervisor and a COREN certified engineer and member Nigeria Society of Engineers ( NSE).
Professor Nwankwo who was subpoenaed by court said he visited the collapsed building site, took some measurements and carried out thorough investigations on what could have been responsible for its collapse.
The building expert who claimed to have been involved in practical constructions and various investigations of troubled structures across the country and Europe said with the information at his disposal, he re-modeled the building with Orion design software, took photographs of the exposed steel and foundation, examined the soil capacity of the building, the expected foundation to be seen in place, the steel reinforcement, loading, beams and columns which he said were all perfectly adequate.
He further stated that he interviewed a survivor and an architect who was a maintenance supervisor of the building in order to find out whether there were any deflections or cracks on the building prior to its collapse.
He said his findings showed that there was none.
He said he wrote a report on his findings which was accompanied with several volumes of British Standard (BS) of building codes of practice to support his assertions and conclusions.
He said they were all tendered and admitted as exhibits by the court The Prosecutor, Dr Jide Martin a Director of Public Prosecution raised no objection against the documents after examining them.
Justice Lawal-Akapo adjourned the matter till today.
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