Two persons were confirmed dead on Sunday in the collapse of a four storey building on Saturday at 3 Iman street in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
Three other victims are lying in critical condition at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), it was learnt.
The State Government vowed it will to set up enquiry panel into the building collapse.
It threatened to apply the full weight of the law if the outcome of investigation indicated that the incident was due to negligence or wrongdoing.
Deputy Governor Moses Ekpo, who led other government functionaries including Commissioner of Police Olatoye Durusinmi, to the scene of collapsed building, sympathised with those who lost loved ones in the sad incident.
Speaking while fielding questions from newsmen on Sunday, Ekpo, said the State government would set up
an enquiry to find why and how it happened, adding that any one found guilty would be sanctioned.
He said: “I came here first and foremost to sympathise with the familes of those who lost their love ones and since I came this is the question i have been asking, where are the relations?
“We must also investigate why and how it happened, to ascertain the personalities that are involved, It’s is after the enquiry that the state government would know what to do, but like I said earlier, whoever violate the building regulations, the law must take it course” he said.
The zonal Coordinator of the
National Emergency Management Agency, South South, Godwin Tepikor, who confirmed the casualty figure while speaking with journalists called for enhanced enforcement of building codes in the country.
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He said ” I was informed about this incident about 7pm yesterday ( Saturday) and I quickly mobilised relevant stakeholders namely; the federal road safety corps, the Civic Defense, the fire service and the Red Cross. And I advised that they should contact any construction company to mobilize their excavator because what we needed was to rescue people alive.
“So, that commenced yesterday ( Saturday) up till now and that is what is still going on. So, we have recovered one dead body here and the other died in the hospital because of multiple injuries.
On what should be done to curb incessant building collapse, he said ” I think that we should enhance enforcement, because it is possible that the property got approval and it is possible that the terms of the approval were not followed. Substantial material may have been used, so if there was enforcement of building codes we would have been able to stem the tide of building collapse.”