Legit.ng journalist Ridwan Adeola Yusuf has over 9 years of experience covering metro.

Ikorodu, Lagos state - Panic gripped residents of Ota-Ona area in Ikorodu, Lagos state, on Tuesday afternoon, May 27.

As reported by Vanguard, the incident occurred when an unfinished two-storey building suddenly collapsed, with many feared trapped beneath the debris.

The Punch also noted the unfortunate development.

It was gathered that the structure, located directly opposite the Mobil Filling Station (formerly Bugon Filling Station), gave way unexpectedly, leaving an unknown number of individuals caught in the rubble.

As of the time of this report, five victims have been rescued alive, but the exact number of those still trapped remains unknown.

Rescue operations are ongoing, with emergency teams working tirelessly to search through the debris.

The actual cause of the collapse has yet to be officially determined.

The images and clips of the affected building can be viewed below:

In 2024, a building collapsed in Lagos once every two weeks on average.

Whereas the commercial cost can be calculated, a figure can never be put on the value of the lives lost underneath the rubble.

The gaps among the buildings, replaced by piles of debris, represent a failure of governance as well as giving rise to allegations of contractors trying to cut corners to save money.

There are regulations, there are maintenance schedules, there are inspectors – but the system does not work.

Those responsible are never held to account, and so nothing ever changes.

Lagos, dubbed by an expert as " the building-collapse capital of Nigeria", has seen at least 90 buildings collapse in the last 13 years, leaving more than 350 people dead, according to the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN).

One of the most notorious incidents was in 2021 when a 21-storey building owned by Femi Osibona collapsed.

Meanwhile, the Lagos state government on Monday, May 26, frowned at the nonchalant attitude of property owners in the state to apply for Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) on their property, saying obtaining C of O is a good way to secure their property.

This was stated by Olajide Babatunde, the special adviser to the state governor on Enterprise Geographic Information System e-GIS and regional planning, at a press briefing held at Alausa to mark the second year of the second term of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

Blueprint quoted Babatunde as saying:

“215 certificates of completion and fitness were issued to building owners and developers after stage-by-stage inspections of their building process by the Lagos State Building Control Agency( LASBCA), through the Building Certification Department (BCD).”

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that a tragic building collapse in Ikota area of Lekki, Ajah, Lagos state, resulted in the deaths of two individuals.

The two-storey structure, still under construction, caved in, leaving five workers seriously injured and others feared trapped beneath the rubble.

According to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the bodies of two victims were recovered from the wreckage: an adult male and a young boy.

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Source: Legit.ng