Rivers State governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, has ordered a complete closure of the site of a five- storey building which collapsed on Wednesday, killing one person and injuring several others in Port Harcourt.
Fubara, who visited the site of the disaster on Thursday to assess the situation, said the site will remain “completely sealed off” until the government gets to the “root cause” of the incident.
The governor was accompanied on the inspection visit by the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Sir Amairigha Edward-Hart, and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Special Duties, Dabite Sokari-George.
He described the incident as unfortunate but observed that preliminary investigation had shown that the developer had earlier refused to subject his site to inspection by the state authorities and comply with the necessary building regulations.
Fubara explained that he couldn’t visit the site the previous day because he was awaiting formal briefing from the relevant agency of government on the situation.
“We’re here to see for ourselves the very unfortunate incident that took place here. I didn’t come yesterday because I wanted to get the report first, and the Commissioner did brief me that the incident site, first, is not as claimed by the developer, that it’s not under the jurisdiction of the state; that it’s under the jurisdiction of the Federal Housing Authority.
“He also informed me that when the project was ongoing, they came here severally to inspect what was happening and also to see the level of compliance. But unfortunately, that the developer kept claiming that we don’t have any right to interfere,” the governor said.
He stated that the issue was no longer about interference but about the life lost to the building collapse and the collateral damage brought upon the family of the deceased.
Fubara extended condolences to the families of the victims, insisting that the incident could have been avoided if the developer had complied with the rules guiding the engineering design and construction of such a structure in the 21st century.
“We feel very sorry and very regretful that such an incident should be happening in this 21st century. 21st century because technology has advanced, engineering has developed. I wonder what kind of engineer would even allow this kind of project to go on when everything about it from inception has been faulty.
“I think that at this point,nothing is going to happen on this site any more. We are going to make sure that this place is completely sealed off until we get to the root cause of this incident,” the governor said.
