Contrary to speculations, the Lagos State government, yesterday, said no directive had been given for the demolition of the two high-rise buildings standing at the site of the 21-storey collapsed building in Ikoyi.
The state’s Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotosho, who disclosed this in a statement, said that the panel of inquiry instituted into the collapse of the building had continued to sit and an integrity test on the two buildings is yet to be conducted.
He added that it was, therefore, wrong to assert or speculate that the buildings would be demolished. Omotosho said two more bodies had been recovered from the site yesterday, which brings the number of bodies retrieved from the site to 45.
MEANWHILE, the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) has set up a nine-member investigation panel on the collapse of the 21-storey building at Ikoyi, Lagos.
President, COREN, Ali Rabiu, at a press briefing yesterday, said that the decision was taken in pursuant to Section 1 (1) (h) of the Engineers (Registration) Amendment) Act, 2018, which empowers the council to investigate engineering failures.
He said panel would carry out a comprehensive inquisition on the remote and or immediate cause of the collapse and others. Chairman of the panel, George Okoroma, said that investigation into the data would be the focus of the panel.
