Malam Muhammad Bello, the FCT Minister, has ordered security forces to detain Federal Housing Authority officials as well as the developer in connection with the collapse of the two-story suspended building in Abuja.
Umar Shuaibu, the Coordinator for the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), revealed this at a news briefing on Saturday.
According to Shuaibu, the minister ordered the security organisations to detain the FHA officer tasked with overseeing the project.
The coordinator added that the engineer in charge of overseeing the development and the FHA officer in charge of issuing the development permit were to be detained for alleged manslaughter by security personnel.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the building, which was still being built, collapsed at around 11 a.m. on Thursday at 6th Avenue in Gwarimpa Estate, trapping 24 people. Three of the victims have been identified as dead, while 21 others have been found alive.
The minister offered his condolences to the victims’ families and the residents of the FCT during a visit to the scene of the incident.
Represented by the Executive Secretary, Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Shehu Ahmad, Bello said, “this is coming at a time when we are all trying as a nation to come out of this worrisome situation of building collapse.
“These are issues which the FCT environment was not prominent with, but because of some activities of quackery, this has come into the FCT and the FCT is not too happy with these happenings.”
The minister recalled that it was the third time such an incident happened at the Gwarinpa Estate.
He stated that the FCTA would stop at no limit to identify those involved in the unfortunate development.
” Preliminary report indicates that the land area where this property was standing doesn’t look well and stabilised. There is the presumption of inferior materials in the construction and workmanship.
“To this, the FCTA will take very seriously and engage the agencies involved to find a lasting solution to this type of embarrassment,” he said. (NAN)
