Naija News
How I survived Lekki Gardens Building Collapse -Artisan
” I was working as a pay loader before the building collapsed. I always slept in the building with others. When the incident happened, they thought that I was one of the dead victims. They had even sent message to my family that they saw my remains being taken away in nylon bags. My mother on hearing the sad news came in the company of my sister to the scene and started crying.
“I was not around all along as I had gone to work in another place. A friend invited me to go to another site with him before the incident happened. If not for the friend that took me out to another site, I would really have died in the building collapse because that was where I used to sleep.“I thank God for preserving my life. I would go to church and give thanks to him. I was thought to have died but the Lord miraculously saved me.”
“The victims and I were together before we closed for the day on Monday. I came back on Tuesday hoping to meet and do business with them as we had always done. But to my dismay, it was the gory sight of the dead bodies of the people that I spent the previous day with that confronted me.“ I have been in deep shock since the incident occurred as their images have kept flashing through my mind. When I went out to urinate at about 2am on Wednesday, I had to run back to my room because I had a flash back of their images. It is impossible for such thought not to cross one’s mind because we had stayed together for several years.”
The victims include Sunday, one of the most hardworking carpenters on the site. He was a native of Abeokuta in Ogun State. He was married and had three children before his untimely death. Tunde, an iron bender who also died in the incident, was equally married with two children. He was from Ibadan. His colleague, Kazeem, was from Ife. He wasn’t married before his death.”
“ We were sleeping in another building beside the collapsed building when we suddenly heard a deafening sound. Immediately we heard the sound, we all rushed out. Surprisingly, we saw that it was the building where our colleagues slept that caved in.“We quickly moved in to rescue the victims. We succeeded in rescuing three people and brought out one that had died before rescue operators arrived. Shortly after that, I left the environment because the images of my dead colleagues kept bombarding my heart and imagination. It wasn’t a good experience to see one’s colleagues who were hustling to make both ends meet mangled in that manner.”
“ They have been owing us for about a month now. They used to pay us on a weekly basis but for the past four weeks, they have not paid us. This obviously weakened our morale as we could hardly feed and meet the needs of our family members and dependants.“ This was why the wife of a dead victim brought her child to meet him when he was not sending money to them. This is very painful and regrettable. It shows how callous the regular employers are.”
“I witnessed the disaster since it happened close to my place of residence. The actual number of people who died is more than those being reported. As at today (Thursday), dead bodies are still being evacuated from the site.
“The disaster occurred as a result of the thunderstorm which happened on Tuesday morning. Some of the workers were still staying in the building because the company owed them some money. It is only about 10 of them who survived and there are about 50 of them dead. This is because the building actually sank, not collapse as was widely reported. That is why some people underground were still making calls for rescue but we are fearing they are now dead, since they have stopped making calls. They were supposed to erect a three-storey building but the owner added two.
“The land in question was sand-filled three months ago and they are laying irons on it almost immediately. There is another building adjacent the place where the same Lekki Garden is building, and they recently sand-filled the place too. Why are they sand-filling a riverine area? They are just reclaiming and sand-filling the whole place.
“This is not the first time that a building Lekki Graden’s estate would collapse. About two years ago, one of their buildings collapsed at Abraham Adesanya Estate. Now, this one has happened. When I saw them refilling the sea shore, I said these people were not equipped for this because they didn’t take time to do the job. They were very much in a hurry to build the estate. If you check the ground floor, there are so many cracks. Look at the fences of the building and see what has become of it,” she said.
“If you were here when they were bringing out those bodies, you won’t be able to eat. The victims were my friends. We used to eat noodles together every night. The painful thing about their death was that so many of them didn’t get paid for the work they did before they died. They laboured in vain. About 15 dead bodies were recovered within a space of time on that fateful day. Some are insinuating that the heavy wind that accompanied the rainfall on that day caused the collapse. But from my own point of view, the use of substandard materials was responsible for the calamity.”
“ There is no how that one would not have fears about the strength of the buildings after the incident. It is the collapsed one that we know about, nobody knows what would happen to the already completed ones. If any of the completed buildings, should collapse, God forbid, the casualty figure would be very high. I think the government would need to carry out tests on all the buildings to check if they are strong enough for people to live in. if you watch some of the buildings under construction, you will see cracks all around them, especially the ground floors.”
“ I have been fear-stricken since the incident happened. I have fears about the safety of my children and family members. So many estates are springing up in the neighbourhood everyday without the relevant authorities overseeing them. They have observed that building housing estates in this area is very lucrative and consequently not concerned about the quality of materials they use in building the houses.”
The Federal Capital Executive Committee has approved ₦33.24 billion worth of contracts for execution within the next one year.
The committee gave the approvals during its 9th meeting, chaired by the FCT Minister, Mr Nyesom Wike, in Abuja on Friday.
Addressing journalists shortly after the meeting, the chief of staff to the minister, Chidi Amadi, said the decisions were part of the FCT administration’s efforts to provide critical services to residents of the FCT.
Providing details of the projects, Chinedum Elechi, Mandate Secretary, Transportation Secretariat, said that ₦7.22 billion was approved for the construction of access roads to Kugbo and Mabushi Bus and Taxi Terminals as additional works.
He recalled that contracts had been awarded in May for the construction of bus and taxi terminals in Kugbo, Mabushi and the Central Business District.
Mr Elechi added that the projects in Kugbo and Mabushi had reached an advanced stage before the realisation of the need for an access road to service the terminals from the major roads.
According to him, the committee has approved the award of the project to Planet Projects Ltd and to be completed in 12 weeks.
The mandate secretary also said that the executive committee approved the procurement of 120,000 litres of Automotive Gas Oil (Diesel) and 40,250 litres of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS.
He explained that the products were for the operation and maintenance of Wupa Basin Sewage Treatment Plant, adding that the contract was awarded to Safah and Fresh Ltd. at ₦2.92 billion, and to be delivered over 12 months.
Similarly, Mr Elechi said the supply of Diesel and PMS, at Wupa Basin Sewage Treatment Plant, was awarded to the same company to cover one year.
He added that ₦638,550 was also approved for the supply of 400,000 litres of Automotive Gas Oil to Lower Usuma Dam Water Treatment Plant of the FCT Water Board.
Also speaking, Shehu Ahmad, Executive Secretary, Federal Capital Territory Development Authority, said that the executive committee also approved the construction of access road to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Academy in Giri District.
Mr Ahmad added that the contract was awarded to Levant Construction Ltd. and ₦7.83 billion and to be completed in nine months.
He aid that the committee equally approved the design and construction of 10 units of Staff Quarters for the Nigerian Law School, Bwari Abuja.
He said that the project was awarded at ₦2.19 billion to Austlinks Energy Services Ltd., and to be completed in nine months.
The executive secretary further said that the committee also approved the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the existing Bill Clinton Road link to the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.
He said that the contract was awarded to Julius Berger at ₦9.88 billion and expected to be completed in six months.
“The contract also includes rehabilitation of facilities in the Presidential Wing, which includes the Presidential Hanger, taxiway, and airport apron, among other facilities,” he said.
On his part, Gardiya Bawa, Solicitor General and Permanent Secretary, Legal Secretariat, said the committee equally approved ₦605.94 million for the procurement of office equipment, furnishing of the new office for the secretariat, and purchase of utility vehicles. (NAN)
For daring to call for the expulsion of the presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, the camp and political associates of the former vice president has moved against Nyesom Wike, asking the NWC to discipline him.
They described Wike as a serial betrayal who formed the group of five governors that committed series of anti party activities against the PDP during the February 25 presidential election.
Director of Research and Documentation of the PDP Presidential Campaign, Dr. Pedro Obasike said,
“Wike coming out to ask for the expulsion of the number one leader of the party and the presidential flag bearer of the party and the recipient of the mandate of the Nigerian people as declared in INEC’s submission that we won 21 states and asking Atiku to be expelled from the party, Wike has crossed the red line and now, he should be ready. He has all the money to fight us back because we are coming at him like a thousand bricks.
“He has unleashed the dogs of war and we will not sit back and watch him ride rough over the party and majority of Nigerians like he did for 8 years over the humility of the Rivers people. That can no longer suffice”.
He also challenged Wike to publish his bank account when he assumed office as a governor and after his eight years tenure as the governor of Rivers state.
According to Obaseke, “Wike is a member of the APC, a sitting Minister of an APC government. Wike openly campaigned against the PDP. You see, by their fruits, we shall know them. By all intents and purposes, Wike is not a member of the PDP’ .
“If you remember clearly, just a few months to the election, Barrister Nyesom Wike, then the governor of Rivers State ran to the court to get an injunction to preclude and stop the PDP from expelling him from the party. If he was so untouchable and bigger than the entire party machinery, why did he do that? Whether we like it or not, Wike is Satan lieutenant.
Rauf Aregbesola
The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, has appealed to young Nigerians to stop the trend of renouncing their citizenship in pursuit of greener pasture. According to him, it is worrisome and counterproductive.
The Minister expressed his concerns when he spoke at the Ministerial Alignment Meeting of the Presidential Task Force on Deliverables for Ministries, Departments, and Agencies of Government.
Represented at the meeting by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry Dr. Shuaib Belgore., the Minister said the Federal government would put up a mechanism in place that would keep young Nigerians busy in productive activities.
He appealed to the youths to stop renouncing their citizenship.
Aregbesola said a committee would be set up in the Ministry with stakeholders to oversee the operations and implementation of the deliverables.
He announced that the committee would be chaired by the Director, Planning Research and Statistics (PRS) in the Ministry, Mr. Kabiru Ayuba, with representatives of the four Services under the Ministry and other relevant officers.
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