Lagos govt. fires head of agency over deadly building collapse

The Lagos State governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, has dismissed Adeigbe Olushola, the General Manager of the Lagos State Building Control Agency, a week after a building collapse in Lekki, Lagos, claimed 34 lives.

In a statement issued Monday, Mr. Ambode also fired Adeoye Adeyemi, the Head of Inspection and Quality Control in the Agency; and Dosunmu Gbadebo, the Zonal District Officer in the Agency.

Last week, a five-storey building collapsed in Lekki, killing 34, according to the National Emergency Management Agency.

Sherifat Akinde, the Zonal Head of Eti-Osa West of LASBCA, was compulsorily retired from the Civil Service.

The affected officers were dismissed having been indicted of negligence, which according to the governor, is an act of misconduct under the Public Service Rule 040401, the Lagos State government said in a statement issued by Olabowale Ademola, the Head of Service. ‎

“Rule 040401 of the Public Service act of misconduct states inter alia: ‘a willful act of omission or general misconduct to the scandal of the pubic or to the prejudice of discipline and proper administration of the State Government” should be visited with dismissal from the Public Service in line with the Public Service Rule 040503,’” read the statement.

The Head of Service said the disciplinary measure was the outcome of the recommendations of the Personnel Management Board to Mr. Ambode, who was “personally grieved by the high number of fatalities that occurred as a result of the building collapse”.

The state government had earlier noted that the collapsed building had been sealed after it emerged that the building contractors “brazenly violated” an approval to construct a three storey structure.

On Friday, a Lagos magistrate court ordered the remand for 30 days of Richard Nyong, 34, the Managing Director of Messrs Lekki Worldwide Estate, the owners of the collapsed building.

The court said the remand would enable the police investigate the deadly collapse of the five storey building.

Mrs. Ademola warned public officials, private building owners or contractors who violate or subvert building regulations that it would no longer be business as usual, saying that the dismissal of the officers would serve as a wake-up call to public servants.

“It is also a clarion call to them to be alive to their responsibilities as any act of negligence will face sanctions, while hardworking officers will be rewarded appropriately,” she said.

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