26th February, 2018
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
The Lagos State Government says buildings above five years in the state should undergo integrity test to determine their structural stability.
This is coming as the officials of the Lagos State Building Control Agency, LASBCA sealed up a building owned by the landlord whose two-storey building collapsed on Sunday in Alagbado area of Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.
General Manager, LASBCA, Engr. Olalekan Shodeinde told newsmen in Lagos on Monday that buildings above five years were expected to carry out integrity test to see if there were any defects.
He also said that Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has ordered post-construction audit of all buildings in the state in order to avert rising cases of building collapse and mandated the agency to extend its activities towards that area.
Shodeinde explained that the post-construction audit involved all building owners in Lagos submitting their building permits for verification, while those who never had permits would be made to obtain such at cheaper rate rather than allowing government to enforce the law.
He added that once government was satisfied with the permit, such a building would be asked to undergo integrity test after which a certificate of habitation would be issued to certify that the house was fit for habitation.
The LASBCA GM explained that building owners without permit would be made to get such after which integrity test would be carried out to ascertain the structural durability of such buildings before certificate of habitation would be issued.
“Any building above five years should be subjected to integrity test. Government is taken this lead because of where we found ourselves. The law said everybody should have a certificate of habitation,” he said.
On the collapsed building, Shodeinde said that the owner of the ill-fated building, Mr Moses Oriarebun, illegally added more floors to it without considering the building’s foundation which was suspected to be designed for a bungalow.
He said that as the rainy season was approaching, more buildings with defective structure would be revealed by the incessant downpour but added that a structural test would enable the property owners to do the needful before the buildings eventually collapse.
He appealed to the residents not to keep mum when they observed building whether existing, under-construction or renovation with questionable integrity to raise the alarm and inform the government before it would be too late.