Gov. Hope Uzodimma of Imo has commiserated with families and victims of the Eight storey building that collapsed on Thursday along Yar’Adua Drive in Owerri, the state capital.
Uzodimma, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary and Media Adviser, Mr Oguwike Nwachuku on Saturday in Owerri, promised full investigation into the incident.
According to the statement, the governor had expressed his displeasure at the avoidable incident that resulted in the loss of lives and property, when he visited the scene on Friday.
He warned that under no circumstance should such structure be erected without appropriate approval, monitoring and supervision by the Owerri Capital Development Authority (OCDA) and all other agencies charged with such responsibility.
The governor noted that the building suffered avoidable structural defects coupled with sub-standard building materials used in the construction by the engineers.
While commiserating with the families of the deceased victims and Imo people in general, Uzodimma assured that the contractor and construction firm would be brought to book after proper investigation was conducted.
“This is a very sad event. Observed that construction work was going on against the directive for total lockdown.
“It is a very serious violation and also to hear that the requisite approvals were not adhered to, is yet another carelessness,” he said.
Uzodinma prayed for the repose of the souls of those who lost their lives and assured that government would do everything possible to ensure that such level of carelessness did not repeat itself in the future.
He promised to ensure that those behind the ugly incident were made to face the full wrath of the law when investigations were concluded.
He directed that all efforts should be geared toward rescuing every life trapped in the ruins to help reduce the number of deaths.
He reassured that government could not afford to close its eyes to “this level of negligence in the state.”
Earlier, the General Manager of OCDA, Mr Innocent Ikpamezie, informed the governor that a few weeks before the collapse, inquiries on the construction papers and details of approvals made to the developers were not supplied to the agency on demand.
He said this led to the shifting of the date of inspection to Tuesday, May 5, before the building collapsed.
Ikpamezie thanked Gov. Uzodimma for the timely intervention and for ensuring that all human and material resources needed for the rescue operation were provided.(NAN)
