Probe panel on collapsed 21-storey Ikoyi building submits report, calls structure ‘an engineering failure’

Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) has described the collapse of the 21-storey building in Ikoyi, Lagos on 1 November, 2021 as ‘an engineering failure.’

President of COREN, Mr Ali Rabiu, disclosed this at the submission of report by the Special Investigations Panel of the Collapsed 21-storey building in Ikoyi Lagos, Thursday, in Abuja.

It would be recalled that following the collapse of a 21-storey building situated on the Gerard Road area of Ikoyi, November 1, last year, the Lagos State Government announced the setting up of an independent panel to probe the collapse of the accident, as it further informed that members of the panel will be drawn from the Nigeria Institute of Architects (NIA), Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP), Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE) and other professional bodies.

The panel will investigate the remote and immediate causes of the incident and make recommendations on how to prevent future occurrence.

“The Lagos State Government is setting up an independent panel to probe the collapse of the 21-storey building on Gerrard Road, Ikoyi. Members of the panel will be drawn from the Nigeria Institute of Architects (NIA), Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP), Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE) and other professional bodies.

“It will independently investigate the remote and immediate causes of the incident and make recommendations on how to prevent future occurrence. The investigation is not part of the internal probe already being conducted by the government,” the state government announced.

Over 50 people died in the collapse of the building including the property’s owner, Femi Osibona.

Submitting the panel’s report, Rabiu assured the panel that COREN would ensure that the recommendations were implemented by government in line with its mandate.

He said that there might be two things to learn from the exercise going forward after seeing what went wrong, adding that measures would be taken to correct the anomalies.

According to him, COREN will sanction negligence by practitioners if there is any engineer or any engineering practitioner involved in this collapse.

“I want to assure you that COREN will by the mandate given to it by the act, ensure that such practitioners are sanctioned in accordance with the law.

“And, where they are not practitioners and they are found involved, we will ensure that we prosecute them in the court of competent jurisdiction.

“But in the meantime, the report will be forwarded to the appropriate organs of government and an executive summary and advice on the implementation of your recommendations.

“Once again, I want to use this opportunity to console the people of Lagos state for what happened and we pray that such never happen again,’’ he said.

Chairman of the panel, Mr George Okoroma, while submitting the report to the president of COREN, said the panel had completed its task.

Okoroma said that the report was given to the COREN President and government to study, before making it available to the public.

He said that the report had been carefully documented and would be presented to COREN for them to study and after which it would be made public.

The panel was set up by COREN President following the collapse of a 21-storey building on Nov. 1, 2021 at Ikoyi killing 46 persons and rescue of 15 alive.

It was mandated to carry out a comprehensive inquisition on the remote and/or immediate cause(s) of the collapse among other terms of reference.

It would also be recalled that earlier in November, President, Nigerian Institute of Structural Engineers (NIStructE), Dr Kehinde Osifala, while disclosing summary of the findings of the preliminary investigation into the Ikoyi collapsed building, during a press briefing, revealed that there were ‘seriously inadequate… design brief changes on the project’ which collapsed on November 1, while still under construction, killing well over 40 workers on the site, including the owner of the property.

“There are clear indications of several design brief changes on the project and the engineering and management of these changes appear to have been seriously inadequate.

“The building that collapsed was initially designed for six floors, later 12 floors and further 15 floors. It could not yet be established the adequacy of any properly designed and documented further revision to the eventual 21 floors that was implemented and which collapsed.

“There are also indications that more than two structural engineering design firms worked on the project at different times.

“The preliminary investigation also revealed some evidence of structural inadequacy in the construction and that signs of some structural distress had already started to show within certain elements of the building,” Osifala revealed.

Continuing, Osifala said: “You can’t test a column or a beam and say you have carried out an integrity test.

“That is arrant nonsense. You need integrity appraisal of the building. It can only be done by a professional. You need to get the right professionals to do the right thing and build the right ways. Do not assume it is a small project.”

According to Osifala, the institute’s findings are not meant to jeopardise the outcomes of the more detailed investigations being organised by various professional and regulatory bodies.