Akintola Omigbodun

About forty-three years ago, I traveled through Bida, then in North-Western State and now in Niger State, on my way by road from Lagos to Kaduna. I was struck by one person’s attempt to achieve a building structure with a ground floor, a first floor and a second floor plus roof using mud walls and timber for the floor levels and the roof structure. I observed that partial collapse of the building had occurred from the second floor to the ground floor.

There are quite a number of buildings in Western Nigeria with a ground floor, a first floor plus roof using mud walls and timber for the first floor and the roof. These buildings have been in use for several years and I am aware of one such building which is more than 70years in use. The attempt in Bida to put up a mud building with a second floor was audacious, the attempt failed for reasons on which I shall not speculate here.

Modern building construction uses concrete, steel reinforcement and blocks for the walls made from sand and Portland cement. The principles and practice for the use of these materials are well-established and buildings using these materials should give more than a life time of service. The collapse of modern buildings, especially with a resultant loss of lives, is avoidable. There is in this country a constitutional right to life, safety and security of persons and government has a duty to put in place measures that would uphold these rights for all citizens.

The Coroners’ System Law 2007 of Lagos State is one such measure. The law provides for a Chief Coroner who is a serving Judge of the High Court and for Coroners who should be Magistrates not below Magistrate Grade I. The law provides for a report of death to be made to the appropriate authorities or to the office of the Coroner if the death is violent, unnatural or suspicious; accidental or misadventured; due to an industrial disease, accident at work or industrial poisoning amongst other causes of death.

The Coroner, while investigating the circumstances of the death of any person, may require the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to perform a post-mortem examination on the body and to make a report. The Coroner shall hold an inquest and shall take evidence on oath. The Coroner can, as a result of the inquest, make an order for the arrest of a person for investigation by the appropriate authority if in the Coroner’s opinion sufficient grounds have been disclosed for making a charge against the person.

Subsequent to the Coroner’s conclusion of an inquest, the Chief Coroner may examine the record of any such proceedings for the purpose of satisfying himself/herself as to the correctness, legality or propriety of any finding or verdict and as to the regularity of such proceedings. There was during the past year the unfortunate incident of a building collapse in the Ikotun area of Lagos State with the resultant loss of lives.

This column at that time stated that we should follow the judicial route in order to unravel the mysteries surrounding this building collapse such that we have an opportunity to learn from our mistakes. A Coroner’s inquest into the death of persons at this building site has recently issued its findings. The Coroner provides the identities of the dead persons and the cause of death of each person with the exception of a few persons who remain unidentified.

One of the significant findings of the Coroner is that there should be investigations of the roles of the building contractor and a structural engineer associated with the building project in the events leading to the death of persons at this building site.

TO BE CONTINUED