How firm withdrew services from collapsed Lagos building over poor execution

Details have emerged on how Prowess Engineering Limited withdrew its services from the building that collapsed in Ikoyi, Lagos state, over poor execution of the project.

The 21-storey building situated along Gerard road in Ikoyi collapsed on Monday afternoon while many workers are trapped and some feared dead in the building which is still under construction.

In a letter seen by TheCable dated February 20, 2020, Muritala Olawale, managing director of Prowess Engineering Limited, said the firm can no longer vouch for the integrity of the building.

The letter addressed to Femi Osibona of Fourscore Heights Limited, the main contractor, stated that the execution of the project does not meet the required criteria.

“This letter is to formally inform you of the withdrawal of our structural consultancy service from the above named project. We arrived at this decision due to the fact that we no longer share same vision with you as our client in terms of how the project is being executed,” the letter stated.

“We can guarantee the integrity of the first two buildings and also works done up to the fourth floor of the third building supervised by us provided specifications have been met in terms of the required concrete strength. This we do not have control over as we do not have the concrete cube test results for each stage of the building till date.

“Also, kindly note that we are not taking responsibilities for any other construction errors that may have occurred over time on the project.

“Furthermore, we request that our company’s name and logo be removed from the project board and also kindly notify all necessary approving authorities of our withdrawal from the project.

“We regret this decision and the lost opportunity to do business together. We look forward to future cooperation in other projects.”

There are ongoing rescue efforts at the site of the collapsed building.

The state government recently launched a rebranded certificate of completion and fitness to limit the frequency of building collapse incidents in Lagos.