Ikoyi Building: SON begins investigation into cause of collapse

The Director-General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria, Farouk Salim, on Friday, advocated strong sanctions for all standards infractions following the collapse of the 21-storey building at Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.

Mr Salim said this in a condolence message to the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and victims of the building collapse on November 1, in Lagos.

The SON chief noted that the agency had visited the site to commence investigation by taking samples of iron rods, concrete mix and other materials for laboratory tests and analysis.

He stressed the importance of promoting voluntary compliance in Nigeria as in other parts of the world, and described the incident as avoidable and one collapse too many.

On Thursday, Governor Sanwo-Olu inaugurated a panel to investigate the cause of the collapse.

Mr Salim commended the Lagos State government for setting up a panel of inquiry to unravel the root cause of the collapse.

The SON DG, also commiserated with the families of the dead and injured and called on all Nigerians, particularly authorities responsible for approvals and regulations, to make adherence to approved standards the watchword in the discharge of their duties.

He offered SON’s technical support, given its mandate and abundance of competence in such investigation.

“We offer our condolence to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the people of Lagos State on the unfortunate high-rise building collapse at Ikoyi and the attendant loss of lives.

“Section 5 (1) b of the SON Act No. 14 of 2015 charges the organisation to undertake investigation as necessary into the quality of facilities, systems, services, materials and products, whether imported or manufactured in Nigeria.

“Also, Section 5 (2) of the Act states that, ‘For purposes of uniformity of Standards in Nigeria, all regulatory agencies or organisations dealing with matters pertaining to or related to standards shall do so in collaboration with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria.’

“Part IX (48) of the Miscellaneous Provisions in the SON Act states that, in every government procurement, where compliance with standards is a requirement, no payment for execution for such contract shall be made unless compliance to the relevant standards have been verified by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria,” he said.

Mr Salim said SON required the continuous support and collaboration of all Nigerians, other agencies and professional organisations to deliver on its mandate to the nation.

He added that SON was currently developing new procedures in line with the Act to verify that all material used in major construction projects across the country met the required standards.

(NAN)