Governor Sanwo-Olu Declares 3-Day Mourning For Ikoyi Building Tragedy

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has declared three days of mourning over the Ikoyi building collapse, which occurred on Monday.

The state government claimed that no fewer than 32 persons are believed to have died in the incident.

This was contained in a press statement by the Commissioner for Information, Gbenga Omotoso, on Thursday, November 4, 2021.

The statement read, “All flags are to be flown at half-mast in public and private buildings and official engagements cancelled during the mourning period.

“The Lagos State Government, once again, commiserates with all those who lost their loved ones in the unfortunate incident.

“Governor Sanwo-Olu has visited the site thrice to encourage the rescuers and console relations of those who are believed to have been trapped in the 21-storey building.

"He was today at the hospital to cheer up those injured before swearing in a six-man panel of Inquiry to find out why the building went down and recommend measures to prevent such incidents.”

Sanwo-Olu earlier on Thursday inaugurated members of the investigation tribunal that will conduct an inquiry into the misconduct responsible for the collapse of a 21-storey structure on Gerrard Road in Ikoyi on Monday.

The Governor also signed the instrument legitimising the composition of the panel and empowering the tribunal to invite or summon anyone and organisation useful to the investigation.

Members of the tribunal, who are totally drawn from the private sector, took the oath at the event held in the LASWA Building at Falomo, Ikoyi. Their duty begins immediately and they are expected to report back within four weeks.

President of Nigeria Institute of Town Planners (NITP), Mr Toyin Ayinde, is the chairman of the panel, while Ekundayo Onajobi, a lawyer in a private law firm, is the Secretary.

Other panel members are a structural engineer, Dr Akintilo Idris Adeleke; an architect, Yinka Ogundairo; representative of Institute of Builders, Mr Godfrey O. Godfrey, and Mrs Bunmi Ibrahim, a real estate lawyer.

Sanwo-Olu, who described the event as a “sad one” for Lagos was visibly in a sombre mood during the inauguration.

The Governor said that the public deserved to know what went wrong. He stressed that the work of the panel would not bring back the lives lost, but added that it would help to prevent the reoccurrence of such tragic events.

He said, “We are gathered here to perform a sad but necessary duty, which is the inauguration of a 6-member Panel of Inquiry into the collapse of the 21-storey building at Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, on Monday. It is a solemn moment for me personally, but this is an important assignment. Indeed, the generation coming after will not forgive us if we don’t do the right thing in this incident.

“The inauguration of this panel shows sincerely that the State Government is interested in unravelling and getting to the root cause of what happened to the building, so that everyone concerned, including the Government, will learn from the very unfortunate incident. Lagosians and the world will be watching and waiting keenly, with the full expectation that the immediate and remote causes of this tragedy will be uncovered.”

Sanwo-Olu identified with distraught families of victims trapped under the collapsed structure, expressing the belief that the outcome of the investigation would assuage their pains and worries.

The oath taken by the tribunal members, the Governor said, empowers them with adequate privileges of Government powers to conduct an independent investigation without fear, favour, interference and restrictions.

The Governor believed the tribunal members would bring their expertise and professionalism to bear in unravelling the infractions that brought down the building.