Technological Disaster in Nigeria on Sunday, 29 January, 2012 at 05:24 (05:24 AM) UTC.

Image: Google Maps (Click on images for larger view.)

Tragedy struck in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, on Saturday, as a building within Naval officers’ quarters, located at 45 Road, 1st Avenue, Gwarimpa Estate collapsed, killing two persons. Abuja has witnessed repeated incidences of collapsed building in places like Jabi, Garki and Asokoro. Out of the five persons who were rescued alive in the Saturday incidence and taken to an undisclosed hospital, one was critically injured. The incident occurred at about 10am, and barely two hours after workers were said to have commenced work to manually demolish the building, following a stop-work order by the development control department of the Federal Capital Territory Administration. Sunday Tribune which was at the scene of the incidence gathered that authorities noticed what they described as structural defect in the building undergoing renovation and had commenced action to verify authorisation for the structure and any possible detail before it eventually caved in at the weekend. The casualty figure was confirmed by the Head of Public Relations of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Yushua Shuaibu; another official of the agency, Daniel Jubril Nok; Director, Social Welfare, FCT Administration, Dr. Geoffrey Ogu; Director of Information, Nigerian Navy, Kabir Aliyu and the Minister of FCT, Bala Mohammed.

“Seven people were trapped, one was dead, four were rescued, one was critically injured and one is still trapped,” said Yushua Shuaibu of NEMA, when the rescue operation was still ongoing. Mr. Daniel Jubril Nok of the same agency who was involved in the rescue operation later told Sunday Tribune at about 5:05pm that one more dead body was recovered from the rubble, bringing the number of dead persons to two. He also confirmed that the rescue team comprising officials of NEMA, Fire Service, Civil Defence, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and FCTA was winding up rescue mission as all dead and wounded victims were successfully recovered and rescued. An eyewitness told Sunday Tribune that the building was initially not part of the Naval quarters and that residents of the area were surprised to see the navy adjusting its fence to include the collapsed structure as part of the quarters. Upon further interrogation, the eyewitness suspected a deal was struck between the original owner of the structure and the Navy. He narrated that the workers were on the different floors of the building doing the manual demolition when it collapsed. He hinted that the building went down when workers at the ground floor had advanced with their part of the work. “As the topmost floor was falling down, it flinged the workers on it out there. You can see one of them there,” he stated.

Part of his account was corroborated by one of the workers who survived the incidence and who gave his name as Ahmadu Abubakar. He, however, estimated that there were about 15 people in the building before it went down. FCTA Minister, Bala Mohammed who arrived the scene of the collapse in company of the FCT Police Commissioner, Mike Zuokumor at about 3: 30pm and about 6 hours after the incident, stated that investigation into the collapse had commenced. He disclosed that the building did not have the FCT and Federal Housing Authority’s approval.

- RSOE-EDIS