Jonathan Nwokpor
Tuesday night brought tragedy as a three-story structure under construction in Ebonyi State’s capital, Abakiliki, collapsed.
The Alex Ekwueme Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki (AE-FUTHA 1) is next to the collapsed structure.
It was learned that although one victim had been rescued and taken to the hospital, other workers were still stuck at the scene.
Hon. Oluchukwu Ukie Ezeali (P-Noble), a member of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly who represents Afikpo North East, owns the building.
During a press briefing on Wednesday morning, Hon. Sunday Inyima, the state commissioner for capital city and urban development, characterized the incident as depressing and clarified that one of the workers had been saved. The remaining workers are still being rescued.
Explaining the reason for the collapse, Inyima stated that although the building’s owner approved it despite the structure’s illegality and lack of consent from the ministry’s head of department.
To save lives, state Commissioner for Works Engr. Lebechi Mbam urged developers and homeowners to carefully follow the proper procedures to obtain approval from the relevant state government.
Engineer Eni Enyinnaya, the state head of the Nigeria Society of Engineers and the chairman of Engineers Regulation Monitoring of the Council of Engineering of Nigeria (COREN), called the occurrence a huge financial loss and a source of shame for the government of Ebonyi State.
Enyinnaya cautioned against using quack engineers and stated that the site engineers would be sanctioned.
The residence’s owner, Hon. Ukie Ezeali, was out of reach; thus, attempts to contact him were unsuccessful.
Please don’t forget to “Allow the notification” so you will be the first to get our gist when we publish it.
Drop your comment in the section below, and don’t forget to share the post.
