Building collapses in Lagos and the corruption story behind them

On Saturday, July 11, 2020, Idowu John, a young man in his 30s, woke up around 3:00 am to use the restroom.

Half-awake, he trudged to the toilet only to run back to the bedroom with his heart in his mouth.

Before heading to bed the night before, Idowu had suggested to his wife that they should pass the night at a nearby hotel after she informed him about a deep crack in their toilet’s wall, but his wife dispelled the idea, saying it was already late.

However, while relieving himself in the toilet, he heard a sound suggesting a crack somewhere in the house and the sound reminded him of the conversation with his wife about the crack in the toilet.

Idowu heard the sound again, and this time, he was dead sure nobody was throwing stones or rocks at their house at a time the whole of Lagos had gone to sleep during the lockdown-induced curfew.

For anyone living in the slums of Lagos Island, where building collapse incidents are alarmingly common, a pebble falling off the wall of a building is a serious warning suggesting an impending tragedy.

Idowu is fully aware of this. On hearing the ominous sound, he rushed back to the room to wake up his wife, his child and his sister-in-law, a police officer living with them in their mini flat.

Confused and disoriented, the family ran out of the building, but on getting to the main gate of the house, Idowu realised he didn’t take the gate key, which was on a table in their sitting room.

Determined to get his family out of danger, Idowu dashed back into the house, while his wife and her sister anxiously cried out to neighbours and co-tenants to wake up and leave their rooms because they sensed the house was about to crumble.

Idowu returned with the key, but as he struggled to open the gate, tragedy struck — the three storey-building he had been living in with his family for over three years crashed on all of them.

Lagos Island residents gather as rescue team search for the Idowus and other occupants of the building on Saturday, July 11, 2020. (FRCN) Pulse Nigeria

His sister-in-law died instantly, while he, his wife and their kid were buried under the rubble for four hours before a rescue team arrived at the scene at 7:00 am.

The father of two was rescued alive with his wife and their kid, all of them with varying degrees of injuries.

The only kid with them that night had bruises on the body but no fracture. While Idowu sustained injuries in his left arm and left leg, his wife complained about excruciating pains in her legs.

The family and other victims were all taken to the General Hospital in Lagos Island, but little did Idowu know that that tragic night would be the last time he would sleep under the same roof with his beloved woman.

Neighbours and rescue team at the scene of the incident (Vanguard) Pulse Nigeria

Recounting the ordeal in an interview with Pulse, he said, “At 3: am, I woke up to ease myself. At that time, I heard a sound in the building and I was sure nobody could be throwing stones at our house. Immediately, I woke my wife to tell her about the sound. She woke her sister who was a police officer and she carried our baby too.

“We were already out of our flat but I forgot to take the gate key. I asked them to stay at the gate and went back to take the key. I got the key and was about to open the gate when the house came down. My wife’s sister died instantly.

“My child sustained some injuries while I sustained injuries in my left arm and left leg. My wife complained about her leg.

“By the time we were rescued it was already some minutes past 7 am. We were under the rubble for four hours.

“You know it happened in the early hours of Saturday. By Tuesday, I was discharged from the General Hospital. They said there was no fracture. They however transferred my wife to a ward. Seven days after the incident, she gave up the ghost on the afternoon of Friday, July 17 around 3 pm.”

The moment he mentioned the time his wife passed on, Idowu’s lips momentarily went dead, his face giving way to a solemn look as memories of his injured child and dead wife ostensibly came flooding back.

For about a minute, the young widower went dead silent.

Apart from the Idowus, another family that occupied the topmost floor of the house also lost their child to the incident.

According to him, two people also died in the next house on which the building collapsed.

He said, “In the incident, a man who is a teacher also lost his child, his wife’s leg too broke, but I think she is okay now. Their own case isn’t so severe because they lived on the topmost floor.

“From what I heard, two people also died in the next house the building collapsed on.

“My wife’s sister died, a man called the professor in the next house lost his child. One other person died in the next house, two in our house including my wife who later died some days after. That’s about five people.”

Five people died in the buidling collapse incident including Idowu's wife and his sister-in-law (Premium Times) Pulse Nigeria

Some hours before the house collapsed

Before the building crumbled on its sleeping occupants, the Idowus had informed the landlord, who lives in Ikeja, about the crack in their toilet. And when he arrived to inspect the building on the eve of the collapse, he told them he was going to carry out general renovation on the house.

“I was not around when the landlord came to check the crack. When I returned, they told me the man just left. However, he remarked that he was going to embark on a general renovation of the building, meaning all of us would have to vacate the house.

“Then, I was thinking vacating the house for him to renovate the house isn’t a bad idea so long as the house does not collapse on us. Meanwhile, my wife asked him about when the renovation would start, he said he would get back to us.”

But Idowu was suspicious of the landlord’s decision. He believed the landlord wouldn’t have decided to renovate the whole house just because of the crack in their toilet.

“That night, I actually thought that for the landlord to have talked about general renovation, he must have seen something that warrants it. I thought the landlord wouldn’t have decided to carry out a general renovation of the house only because of a crack in our toilet.

“I sensed he must have noticed some other issues with the building. Owing to this, I suggested that we leave the house and spend the night at a hotel, but my wife said it was already too late into the night.”

LASBCA knew about the condition of the building before it collapsed

The Lagos State Building Control Agency, LASBCA, is an agency under the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development.

Lagos State Building Control Agency was established in 2010 to prevent building collapse incidents in Lagos State. (Enuko Nigeria) Pulse Nigeria

The agency, which was established in 2010, but commenced operations in August 2012, is saddled with the responsibility of carrying out structural stability tests on buildings and demolishing distressed and non-conforming properties, among others.

In its vision statement, LASBCA says it is set up “to ensure that buildings in Lagos State are designed, constructed and maintained to high standards of safety so as to avoid loss of lives and properties.”

The statement further says the agency was established “to achieve zero percent building collapse” in the state.

However, the modus operandi of the agency seems to be at odds with the claims in its vision statement.

Before it collapsed on Saturday, July 11, 2020, Idowu’s residence was located at 20, Freeman Street, Lagos Island.

According to him, LASBCA officials arrived at their residence in 2019 to conduct a structural stability test on the house when a road project was going on on Freeman street, but they didn’t meet the landlord at home.

The scene of the incident after the victims had been rescued (The Nigerian Xpress) Pulse Nigeria

In his view, the expansion of the road affected the building in a way, because there was a need to construct a public drainage on both sides of the road.

He said, “You know everything has an expiry date, but what hastened the collapse of the house was the construction and expansion of the road and you know most houses in Lagos are very close to the road.

“While the road was being expanded, the foundation of the house was tampered with because the drainage that was constructed for the road is very close to the house.

“And during the construction of the road, I heard that LASBCA officials came to test the house.”

Landlord moved out of the house after meeting with LASBCA

Following LASBCA officials’ visit to his house in 2019, the landlord, whose name was given as Alhaji Wasiu Salvador, was said to have visited the agency’s office to inquire about their reason for the visit.

The tenants, including the Idowus, were not aware of the outcome of their landlord’s meeting with LASBCA. He only told them he had gone to see them in their office.

“When LASBCA officials came to the house last year, the landlord told us he had gone to see them. That’s what the landlord told my late wife because I am not always at home.

“You know in Lagos, if government officials visit your house and you go to see them later, that would be the end of whatever reason brought them to your house in the first place.

“The house actually belongs to one of the popular families on Lagos Island. Everyone knows the Salvador family in Lagos. The landlord is also a property developer and he has about four other properties that I know around the area of the collapsed one.”

This corroborates the claim that many houses that have been marked for demolition on Lagos Island may never be brought down because a lot of them are family homes of the Lagos political elite.

However, in 2019, after his meeting with LASBCA, Alhaji Salvador and his family moved out of the house and rented out the flat to another tenant, who according to Idowu had started converting the apartment to a brothel before it collapsed.

He said, “I moved into the house in 2017, and at that time, the first floor was occupied by the landlord, he moved out of the house in 2019. Immediately he moved out, he rented it out. In fact, the new tenant had not moved in when the building collapsed.

“In my opinion, the new tenant contributed to the collapse of the house, because his plan was to convert the flat to a brothel. Because of that, he had to break some walls in the flat and rebuild it.

“That shouldn’t have happened in the house in the first place. Since the landlord had gone to LASBCA, they must have told him about the condition of the house. I think the breaking of the walls to convert the first flat to a brothel contributed to the collapse of the house.

“I also think the landlord moved out of the house in 2019 because of the poor condition of the house. He hasn’t come to the Island since then, I don’t know where he lives now, but he may be in Lagos because he also has a house in Ikeja.”

According to PM News, residents of the area affirmed that the building had been marked for demolition two years ago, but the landlord renovated it and rented it out.

LASBCA stinks of bribery and corruption

The major culprit of building collapse incidents in Lagos is the management of the Lagos State Building Control Agency.

The agency has since its establishment been supervising building collapses, as it allows so many distressed buildings to remain, as long as landlords are ready to grease their palms.

LASBCA officials seal a property in Lagos. (Reference Daily News) Pulse Nigeria

Explaining why she moved out of her former residence in Ebute Metta, a mother of four in a chat with Pulse said the house was on the verge of collapse as the weak slabs that serve as ceilings for each floor fell apart each time.

The woman, who prefers anonymity, alleged that LASBCA officials had once identified the building as one of the distressed properties in Ebute Metta, but the agency refused to do the needful after the landlord bribed them.

In April, this writer via his Twitter handle, @WahabAkinbayo called the attention of LASBCA to the dangerous conversion of an abandoned two-storey building to three in Ebute Metta, on Twitter.

I tweeted, “Was this approved by @LasbcaA @followlasg? This is a dilapidated two-storey building in Ebute Metta being raised to three. The building has been left unoccupied for over five years.”

Replying to the tweet, the agency thanked me for bringing it to its attention and promised to look into the property.

Twenty-two days earlier, on March 20 to be precise, a Nigerian with the handle @Yus_9ce had called the attention of the agency to the same building saying, “@LasbcaA, this is an ongoing renovation at Ondo street by Bola, Ebute metta, Lagos, where a 2 storey building is being converted to a 3 storey building supported with iron beams. #lifematters”

Responding to the tweet, the agency lied, saying “The site has been visited and sealed off……thank you”.

LASBCA has succeeded in giving a pass mark to another death trap in the state because as it stands, the building has neared completion and by the time the developer covers the structural defects with paint, prospective tenants would only see a new house, not a trap.

LASBCA supervises violation of Lagos law by developers

From Mushin to Yaba, to Ebute-Metta and Lagos Island, new and renovated houses spring up every other day.

The bulk of developers in the state just want to erect buildings and make money off them. How the buildings are erected does not matter.

Unfortunately, like the developers, the agency saddled with the responsibility of looking into building control in Lagos is more interested in making money than preventing calamities.

In the Lagos State Urban and Regional Planning Development law, Cap U2, the word ‘renovation’ is defined as “any improvement that does not add additional floor area to the building and may include redecorating and painting; roof restoration; replacing floor coverings; recladding; retiling; kitchen or bathroom remodelling; window and door replacement; and Installation of home improvement.”

If renovation according to LASBCA has nothing to do with adding another floor to a building, whoever approved the raising of an abandoned two-storey building to three in Ebute-Metta has some explaining to do.

A dilapidated two-storey building raised to three in Ebute Metta has neared completion (Pulse) Pulse Nigeria

Again, the law governing LASBCA operations and developers’ business in Lagos also states that ‘all building materials such as sand, gravel cement, blocks, reinforcement bars, being used for construction should be kept out of public roads, required setback, public drainage at the front, rear or either side of the site.’

However, a lot of the construction sites in areas where new houses are springing up in Lagos have no spaces to keep their building materials apart from the public road.

Building materials kept on the road in Ebute Metta in violation of Lagos laws. (Pulse) Pulse Nigeria

LASBCA is short-staffed but they are truly corrupt — Real Estate Marketer

In a telephone interview with Pulse, a Real Estate Developer and Marketer, who does not want his name mentioned for this story, affirmed the claim that the operations of LASBCA officials are shrouded in nepotism and bribery.

He, however, noted that the agency is abnormally short-staffed, adding that the total number of officials in some of the agency’s district offices in each local government in the state is not up to 15.

The developer said, “Each Local Government has a district office that is responsible for that local government and LASBCA works within that district office where they monitor planning, renovation and construction within the area.

“However, in their defence, they are short-staffed. In Yaba Local Government, for example, the entire LASBCA team in Yaba are not up to 15, and those 15 people are expected to do the monitoring, evaluation and sanctioning in the area. So, it’s a lot of work for the team.

A team of LASBCA officials during sensitisation campaign against construction without permit in 2018 (PMNEWS) Pulse Nigeria

“Again, those 15 people are expected to discover if a house is undergoing construction when a developer does not go to them to seek approval, especially if the house is on the outskirts of the local government or in a place hidden from view. That developer can get away with that building and LASBCA will not know at all because they are short staffed. So the only buildings under construction they mostly notice are those that are close to major roads or those that lie central within that local government.”

On the corrupt practices of LASBCA officials, the developer said the agency is neither interested in the development of quality buildings, nor thorough inspection of renovated properties in the state.

According to him, the agency is more concerned about revenue generation for the state government rather than tackling the issue for which it was established.

“Some of those district offices, they do padi padi truly (nepotism) because when there is a renovation permit that you’re supposed to clear, and the structure of the building is supposed to be tested before you even get the renovation permit or the building permit, they don’t inspect the process from A to Z.

“They are only concerned about the fee you’ll pay because for them, that’s their work; to generate money for the government and generate money to their pockets. That’s their priority.

“Most of the time, their priority is not on the quality of the building you’re putting in place, and you don’t blame them for that at all because the state government issues a quota of the revenue they have to bring at the end of the month. So, the major drive is to generate money for the government and themselves. That’s where the problem comes from.

“So, when you go to LASBCA, they’ll tell you they will do the assessment and they will tell you it will cost you N1 million to get a permit, then you’ll now start negotiating that N1 million.

“For them, the money you pay is the most important thing, rather than coming to do the thorough testing and following every bit of the process properly to ascertain the quality of the developer, the building and the materials you’re using. And because they are also short staffed, that is also part of the problem.”

Blood, deaths and the politics of soundbites

Each time victims of building collapse are brought out from beneath heaps of rubbles dead or wounded, and covered in their own blood, government officials grace the scene to feed the media with soundbites on what they are doing to prevent the calamity from happening again.

Building collapse is a common incident in Lagos. About six buildings have collapsed in the last 11 months (Concise) Pulse Nigeria

They’ll talk about the Lagos State Government’s readiness to identify distressed properties and demolish them.

The same rhetoric has been rehearsed and replayed at Ebute-Metta, Magodo, Lagos Island and every other place with a history of building collapse in the city.

In March 2019, after a three-storey building housing a school at Massey Street, Opposite Oja, Ita-Faaji, collapsed, killing 18 people, LASBCA announced a demolition exercise that would affect 180 houses in the area.

In January 2020, the Managing Director of LASBCA, Biola Kosegbe said 70 out of the 700 houses marked for demolition in the state would be published in the weeks that followed.

Managing Director of LASBCA, Biola-Kosegbe (PM NEWS) Pulse Nigeria

Four days after Idowu’s residence collapsed in July, Mrs Kosegbe dropped another soundbite, saying 102 out of about 500 identified distressed buildings in the state have been marked for demolition. She added that demolition of the marked properties would begin after the expiration of a seven-day notice.

However, no major demolition exercise has been seen anywhere in Lagos since then.

Also in January, the Lagos State Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Idris Salako said the state government is ready to redevelop the whole of Lagos Island.

Despite these soundbites, six buildings have collapsed in the city in the last 11 months. The state government has not been able to bring down all the properties it has reportedly identified for demolition in the state.

Dr. Idris Salako, Lagos State Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development ( Nairametric) Pulse Nigeria

Pulse reached out to the Lagos State Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, whose ministry supervises LASBCA, for his comment on why the state failed to demolish all the distressed houses it identified in 2019, but the commissioner did not pick up his phone on the six occasions we called.

A Whatsapp message sent to the commissioner on Tuesday, September 22, 2020, was also not responded to.

Again, all attempts to reach out to LASBCA’s head office proved abortive as none of the numbers on the agency’s page on the Lagos state government’s website, is functional.

Also, the mobile line designated as Whatsapp number on the page does not seem functional as the Whatsapp message sent to the number since Wednesday, September 23, 2020, was not responded to.

There is no doubt that in Lagos, loss of lives as a result of building collapse is rife, and this report has shown that the state government has only been paying lip service to the problem.