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Three casualties, twenty people were rescued, and forty people are believed to be trapped in a two-story commercial building under construction on 7th Avenue in Galadima area of Gwarinpa in Abuja.
An eye witness, John Edwin, who spoke to Nigerian Tribune, said he has lived in the area for many years and has always known the place to be a reserved green area. According to him, the workers on the site, especially laborers conveying blocks to the top, were over 60 when the building collapsed.
Edwin urged relevant authorities to call the management of the Federal Housing Authority to question illegally allocating green areas to commercial complex.
A few days after, the FCT minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, complained during the Presidential Scorecard that Gwarinpa Estate is a creation of the Federal Government domiciled within Abuja. Still, the process of the supervision of that estate in the past was not vested in the FCTA.
Confirming the incident to newsmen, the Coordinator Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), Umar Shuaibu, said that while the council won’t appropriately blame anybody, that investigation will commence immediately to ascertain both the remote and immediate cause of the collapse.
“When the monitoring officers leave the site and leave the contractor or the developers, what they do outside is a different thing entirely. We have to make sure that it is the professionals that are supervising. Most of the quacks are involved. When you have quackery, anything can happen. However, we are on top of the situation.
Things like this are scarce in Abuja because of the standard monitoring that we engaged in from the monitoring of the city side the Housing Authority also has its professionals.
We will hold on to ensure that they do the right thing, especially those involved in this development. If punishments are meted on the actual people, that is appropriate, but now we are focusing on lives to be rescued.
“As at the time of the collapse, the building was a frame structure with columns, suspended slabs in place, and some block works. Preliminary findings revealed that approval for two floors was granted to the developer, who decided to add an extra floor to the structure.
“Rescue efforts are currently going on to save lives, with responses from all relevant agencies. A total of four people has been rescued from the rubble at the time of this release.
On-going investigations will reveal immediate and remote causes of the collapse.”
One of the survivors, Joshua, a Benue State indigene who survived with his sibling Jonathan, said, “I was reluctant to come and work this morning, but my brother prevailed over me that we don’t have money we should work for today. We give God the glory that two of us are alive.”
“The Commissioner of Police, CP Sadiq Abubakar, who personally visited the scene, has assured that the FCT Police would provide all necessary support to ensure the ease of the rescue operations and to ensure hoodlums do not take advantage of the situation. He equally pledged the help of the command to aid the functions of Building Regulatory and Investigative Bodies within the FCT.
“The CP, who described the situation as very unfortunate, called on the residents of the area to remain vigilant and to report any suspicious movement to the Police. He prayed that the victims, especially those reportedly trapped under the rubble, would be rescued and stabilized accordingly.”
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