Following the death of two sisters when a two-storey building collapsed in the estate on Wednesday November 20th, 201, the Lagos State Government has marked more than 20 houses for demolition at Jakande Estate, Oke-Afa, near Isolo, Lagos
Two sisters, Bukky and Toyin Coker, were killed and their mother, Mrs. Coker, seriously injured when their house in the estate collapsed at midnight.
Officials of LSBCA claimed that most of the buildings at the estate were defective and the residents warned to move away from the danger zone but they failed to heed the warning.
Resident of the estate, Mrs. Joy Oduah noted that the contractors who handled the buildings did a poor job. The marking of the houses for demolition has thrown landlords and tenants in the estate into panic.
Some of the residents said not all the buildings marked for demolition were defective, adding that some of them were marked in order to extort money from the landlords.
It was also gathered that most of the houses in the estate were let out by the landlords who live elsewhere.
Meanwhile, Mr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), said that occupants of a two-storey building that collapsed in Lagos on Wednesday had ignored government‘s safety warnings.
The building, Block M20, Jakande Estate, at Church Street, Oke-Afa, Isolo, Lagos, collapsed shortly after midnight, killing two sisters.
He explained that occupants had been repeatedly informed of its distressed state and the dangers in their continued habitation of the building.
“This is the kind of disasters we have always tried to avoid , but unfortunately, some residents are not just co-operating with the state government at the expense of their safety.
“The results of the series of structural tests we conducted on the collapsed building showed that the structure was weak and not fit for habitation.
Meanwhile the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has advised the Lagos State Government to conduct comprehensive assessment of buildings in all its housing estates. Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, the South-West Zonal Information Officer of the agency, gave the advice in an interview with NAN on Wednesday in Lagos.
He gave the advice at the collapsed building that killed two sisters in Isolo, noting that the structure was erected during the tenure of Alhaji Lateef Jakande as the governor of Lagos State between 1979 and 1983.
He said that the assessment was necessary to determine the suitability of the buildings for continued habitation.
NAN reports that many of the two-storey buildings, constructed about 30 years ago, have become dilapidated, with cracks on their walls.
According to Farinloye, the Lagos State Ministry of Housing will assess the houses to determine their suitability to serve as residential buildings.
“We have advised residents to immediately evacuate the buildings, to avoid further loss of lives. “The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) has taken over the site of the collapsed building for proper assessment,” he said.