DESPITE repeated warnings by the Federal Government that construction
of buildings in the country should be done according to standard,
records of building collapse have remained on the increase. In Ebonyi
State, no fewer than 21 persons last week escaped death by whiskers when
a two-storey building under construction collapsed.
The ugly incident which occurred in Mater Misericordae Hospital,
Afikpo, according to reports made available to Vanguard Metro,VM, was
due to the substandard materials used in the construction of the
building allegedly owned by the Catholic Church in the area.
VM gathered that no life was lost as a result of the collapse but
some workers, including labourers and masons sustained various degrees
of injuries and are now receiving treatment in the hospital. Recounting
his ordeal, Mr. Francis Eluu said: “I was in the building with the
concrete I was carrying on my head when I started hearing sounds from
the building. I ran for my dear life but as I was trying to escape,
one of the rubbles fell on my back and I was seriously injured. So, out
21 of us working at the site, seven sustained serious injuries while
others escaped”.
Another eyewitness (name withheld) told VM that the cause of the
building collapse was yet to be determined but pointed out that the type
of building materials used were not of high quality. “If you look at
the building, you will know that sand was more than the cement and the
irons are small for this type of building,” he said.
When VM visited the scene, an excavator was seen removing the debris
of the collapsed building from the site. Some residents of the
neighbourhood expressed fears that another two-storey building being
erected by the same contractor, might also collapse because, according
to them, the contractor might have also used similar substandard
materials in the construction.
All efforts to speak with the Rev. Father in-charge of the hospital,
Fr. Charles Otu proved abortive. Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Nigeria
Society of Engineers, NSE, Ebonyi State chapter, Mr. Nwali Etche had
threatened to drag the contractors and engineers that handled the
construction of the collapsed building at Mater Miserecondia Hospital in
Afikpo to court. He said if found guilty, they would be jailed.
Mr. Etche stated this after inspecting the site of the collapsed
building. According to him, preliminary reports by the NSE suggest that
the collpase occurred due to poor quality work executed by the
contractors.
He said: “We didn’t see anybody when we got there except the
patients. Both the hospital administrator and contractor bolted away.
We only saw a few patients when we got there. We gave the administrator
up till close of work today to report to our office. We also asked him
to bring along certain things like the design of the building, approval
of work certificate and the contractor’s identity. “If he fails to do so
at the end of work today, then we shall report him to the appropriate
authorities.
“The NSE cannot blame anybody for the collapse until it has got all
the necessary data in line with our procedure. If the collapse is due to
natural disaster, then we can’t blame anybody but if it is mechanical,
then we will find out if it is the engineer’s fault or that of the
contractor, supervisor or designer,” he said.
On the likely punishment, he said: “The punishment varies: If you
are an engineer, you will be banned from practicing and go in for seven
years imprisonment. If it is the contractor’s fault, we will take him to
court and if someone dies, it is life imprisonment”.
In his reaction, the Commissioner for Information in the state, Mr.
Chike Onwe, called on landowners, builders, engineers and contractors to
ensure that buildings under their care were constructed according to
modern standards.
He charged them to avoid the purchase of low quality and substandard
building materials both in and outside the state, adding that what
should reside in the minds of any builder was the safety and longevity
of a building during and after construction.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for reading this article. If you enjoyed it, please click any of the buttons above to share it. You can also make your comment below.