The Oyo State Government has sealed off a collapsed building under reconstruction in the Dugbe area of Ibadan. The building belonged to a popular restaurant, Item7Go.
Commissioner for Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Mr. Williams Akin-Funmilayo, who spoke with newsmen after an on-the-spot assessment of the collapsed building, said the action was to ensure the safety of lives and property.
He added that sealing off the collapsed building would also allow the government to assess the situation and prepare an adequate report on the cause of the incident.
The commissioner noted that some of the building materials used to construct the collapsed building appeared to be substandard and of low quality.
He declared that an integrity test would be carried out on the collapsed building and other restaurant branches in the state to avoid a recurrence.
Akin-Funmilayo stated that the test’s outcome would determine the government’s following action.
He said, “Earlier this morning, the message got to me that there was a building collapse at Dugbe, and we came over here to see things for ourselves.
“We thank God that there is no loss of life.
“After seeing the extent of the collapse, we decided that it had to be sealed off because we had to prevent loss of life.
“Professionals from the Ministry of Works would have to come and carry out an integrity test, after which the report would advise us on the next action to be taken on the property.
“If they can continue, we will let them know and if it has to be totally brought down, we will let them know as well.
“From what we have seen, substandard materials were used, and this has also been corroborated by our professionals from the Ministry of Works. The Director of Public Buildings has equally looked at it and confirmed it.
“However, we will still go for an integrity test so that absolute professionalism can be ensured and the result thereafter will determine the next action we will take.
“There is an approval for the design. The building has been in existence before, but there is a renovation coming up. From the information made available to me, there is a company trying to have an outlet here, and they are the people trying to do the renovation. But we never expected what actually happened.
“In addition, this outlet belongs to a popular eatery outfit. I believe the same Engineer doing this place handled the other outlets they have in Ibadan and other cities. But for this to have happened, it means that we have to carry out an integrity test on all their buildings.
If we find out that the other outlets fail the integrity test, we will bring them down, because we cannot afford to toy with the lives of our people.”
