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Senate investigates TB.Joshua Synagogue building collapse

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Two weeks after a guesthouse of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) collapsed, with the death toll at about 110, Senate has set machinery in motion to investigate the incident.

Already, the chamber had mandated its Committee on Lands, Housing and Urban Development to organise a sensitisation public hearing on the menace of collapsed buildings in the country.

It also urged federal and state ministries of lands and housing, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Council for Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) and other regulatory agencies to wake up and ensure compliance with building rules and regulations.

Senator Abdulmumin Hassan, who moved the motion based it on the alarming rate of buildings collapse in the country.

Leading the debate, Hassan urged that government should intervene to save lives and property of Nigerians from continued destruction of what has become a national catastrophe.

“The rate of building collapse in the country in the recent past is not only alarming but horrifying, unfortunate and quite worrisome. Senate should note particularly, that this menace has so far claimed several lives and property worth billions of naira, especially in Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna and Port Harcourt.

“Senate is aware that statistics had indicated that in the last two years alone, most major cities in the country witnessed nothing less than three to four buildings collapse. Further statistics indicated that 60 per cent of structures in the country were built without authorisation and that 85 per cent of building materials in Nigeria are substandard while over 80 per cent of the materials were imported into the country.

“Senate is worried that factors attributed to this menace are numerous, including lack of necessary and proper building approval and supervision, use of substandard materials, population density, lack of professional competence and activities of quacks, bad workmanship, compromising standards due to bribery and corruption, lack of inadequate maintenance, greedy attitude of contractors and wear and tear, to mention but a few.”

Chairman of the Committee on Defence and Army, Senator George Sekibo, wondered why a two-storey building should be raised to six and lamented: “We are living in a state of lawlessness.”

Senator Joshua Dariye urged his colleagues to “move away from sentiments and ensure that the right thing is done,” pointing out that, “these days, our sentiments becloud our judgements and most of the people who flout these policies are religious bodies.”

Source The Sun

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