Ambode sacks GM of building control agency

Akinwunmi Ambode, governor of Lagos state, has approved the dismissal of Adeigbe Olushola, an engineer and general manager of the Building Control Agency (LASBCA), following last week’s collapse of a Lekki Gardens building.

The tragedy resulted in the death of 34 people.

The governor also approved the dismissal of Adeoye Thomas Adeyemi, head of inspection and quality control in the agency, and Dosunmu Gbadebo, zonal district officer in the agency.

Akinde Adenike Sherifat, zonal head of Eti-Osa west of the agency, was compulsorily retired from the civil service.

The state government had blamed the collapse on “a brazen act of defiance and impunity” by owners of the building, Messrs Lekki Worldwide Estate Limited, the promoters of Lekki Gardens”, saying it “criminally unsealed the property and continued building beyond the approved floors until the unfortunate incident”.

TheCable also quoted the Nigerian Institute of Building as revealing that Lekki Gardens unprofessionally added the last two floors of the building,

“All the work that has been done here is nothing to write home about; it’s work that was done under no supervision, under no professional engineer or builder,” Adelaja Adekanbi, vice chairman Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB), had told TheCable in an interview.

“Let them bring the engineer or builder that is involved in the construction. The first two building here, I was involved in it; I taught them what to do. They wanted to raise two floors and they did a piling of six metres for this kind of structure so the structural stability is failure and where we are standing, if you don’t know, was purely water two years ago.

“Imagine someone building on water and doing a piling of six metres for a seven-storeyed building. I recommend to Lagos state government that every building here painted or not, should be tested.

“This house we are looking at should also be pulled down in a week. If not, we are looking for another trouble. At this point, I recommend that every house here should be tested to ascertain the structural stability because I don’t think they are habitable.”

Richard Nyong, managing director and chief executive officer of the company, was subsequently detained at Panti Police Station on Thursday.

When he was arraigned before an Ebute-Metta chief magistrate court the following day, the court ordered that he should be remanded in prison custody for 30 days.

In the latest move of the state government to punish those found to have been complicit in the illegal construction of the building, Olabowale Ademola, state head of service, said on behalf of the governor that the affected officers were dismissed “having been indicted of negligence, which according to him, is an act of misconduct under the Public Service Rule 040401”.

“Rule 040401 of the Public Service act of misconduct states inter alia: ‘A willful act of omission or general misconduct to the scandal of the pubic or to the prejudice of discipline and proper administration of the State Government’ should be visited with dismissal from the Public Service in line with the Public Service Rule 040503,” read Ademola’s statement.

“The disciplinary measure is the outcome of the recommendations of the Personnel Management Board to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, who was personally grieved by the high number of fatalities that occurred as a result of the building collapse.”

She warned public officials, private building owners and contractors who violate or subvert building regulations that it would no longer be business as usual, saying that the dismissal of the officers will serve as a wake-up call to public servants.

“It is also a clarion call to them to be alive to their responsibilities as any act of negligence will face sanctions, while hardworking officers will be rewarded appropriately,” she added.