Building collapses are common in this African country due to the use of poor quality construction materials and inadequate government control of construction work in progress.
On Thursday, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Coordinator Ibrahim Farinloye announced that the death toll from a building collapse in Lagos City rose to 36 after more bodies were retrieved by rescuers from the debris.
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Between Wednesday and Thursday morning, over 10 dead bodies were pulled out of the rubble of the 21-story building under construction in the Ikoyi area of Lagos which collapsed on Monday afternoon.
"Out of the nine survivors, one was a female, and eight were males," Farinloye said, adding the rescue operation which kicked off on Monday was still continuing.
At least 50 construction workers were trapped in the building after it collapsed around 2 p.m. Monday. On that day, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari offered condolences to the families of the victims and urged the authorities to intensify efforts in rescue operations.
#BREAKING: As a result of the collapse of the 21-storey building, which was built in Lagos, the largest city and economic capital of Nigeria, the loss of life increased to 20 and the number of rescued increased to 10. pic.twitter.com/Dl2sBC4BtG
— MUSİTEM HABER (@musitem) November 2, 2021
Building collapses are common in this African country due to the use of poor quality construction materials and inadequate government control of construction work in progress. On this occasion, the regional authorities indicated that the construction company Fourscore Limited was only authorized to build 15 plants and carried out its plans without permission.
The Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu announced his administration is setting up an independent panel to probe the collapse with members from professional builders, town planners, structural engineers and legal practitioners.
"It will independently investigate the remote and immediate causes of the incident and make recommendations on how to prevent future occurrences. The investigation is not part of the internal probe already being conducted by the government," he said.
#Africa | The #Indigenous Ogoni Nine were hanged for opposing Shell's exploitation. #Nigeria #Environment pic.twitter.com/VBWmeKhqCf
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) May 5, 2019