A tragic building collapse in the Orile Iganmu area of Lagos State has been linked to structural issues, with officials revealing that occupants ignored warnings to leave the premises before the disaster occurred.
The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) confirmed that the two-storey residential building located at 20 Amusu Street, near Bale Bus Stop, had shown clear signs of distress long before it finally crumbled.
LASEMA’s Head of Public Affairs, Nosa Okunbor, explained on Monday that the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) had already marked the building as dangerous.
Several warnings were issued, urging residents to vacate the building due to its unsafe condition. However, despite multiple eviction notices, some tenants refused to leave the structure, which resulted in Monday’s unfortunate incident.
The building, which collapsed in the early hours of October 14th, had been flagged by local authorities for structural defects.
The statement read in part, “Upon the arrival of the Agency’s Response Team at the incident scene at 09:33hrs, it was observed that a two-storey residential building had collapsed on Monday, 14th October 2024.
“The cause of the collapse was attributed to distress. Further information gathered from LASBCA revealed that the occupants of the building had been served with eviction notices due to its distressed state, but some remained defiant.”
