Occupants refuse to relocate after building collapse

A five-storey building, belonging to Lekki Gardens Estate, collapsed on March 8, 2016.

This resulted in the death of over 30 people.

In order to determine why, and prevent another from happening, the Lagos state government ordered the immediate sealing of the site.

Occupants of this building, and other structures constructed by Lekki Gardens, were also advised to vacate.

According to the governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, residents need to vacate because of the government's plan to conduct stability tests on all buildings constructed by the real estate company.

“The State Government will undertake a stability test on all other buildings constructed by the Developer in the State, whether occupied or not, to ascertain their structural stability. The Developer will pay the cost of the tests. Any building found to be defective would be demolished. For those that pass the integrity test the developer will pay a penalty for any overdevelopment on the site,” he said.

READ: 18 tweets that show Governor Ambode's commitment towards preventing another tragedy

However, residents have refused to budge.

The Guardian reports that residents have refused to vacate the building due to the lack of relocation plans.

“Where are we or our tenants moving to. What is the relocation plan? Nobody has spoken to us on the way forward, apart from what we read on the newspapers,” a resident said.

An official of the residents revealed plans to see the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development and the governor because that they need to be involved with the stability test.

“We need to know the issues, hence we will be meeting with both the commissioner and Governor. We should know whether the buildings complained about have issues of compliance or structurally defective.”

She also spoke against the arrest of the Managing Director, Richard Nyong, and one of the contractors, Odofin Taiwo Henry.

“This guy (Lekki Garden) should not be persecuted but be encouraged as Lekki Garden has shown to have delivered so much housing units within a very short time, " she said.