A five-storey building collapsed Thursday night at Oba in Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State.
The building was still under construction when it collapsed.
The Executive Secretary, Anambra State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Paul Odenigbo, has, however, refuted reports in the local media that people were trapped in the collapsed structure.
The local media reported that “many people were trapped” in the rubbles.
Confirming the incident, Mr Odenigbo said nobody was trapped.
“A five-storey building indeed collapsed in Oba,” he told PREMIUM TIMES. “(But) it is not true that some people were killed.”
He added: “Nobody was trapped.”
He said the agency visited the area Friday morning with representatives of the National Emergency Management Agency and the Anambra State Physical Planning Board.
Mr Odenigbo said the agency discovered that the building collapsed because of the substandard materials used for the construction.
Chike Maduekwe, the chairman of, the Anambra State Physical Planning Board, said the owner of the building did not get approval for its construction.
He confirmed that substandard materials were used for the construction.
Some persons in the area, he said, usually prevented officials of the agency from monitoring the quality of materials used for the construction of the building.
“Most of the buildings there did not get approval. Even today, they tried to resist us when we went there,” Mr Maduekwe said.
Mr Maduekwe said the agency would return to the area with security agencies.
The board would do “everything possible to end such rascality” and prevent another such incident in the state, he said.
The chairman said the site had been sealed off.
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