The two storey building that collapsed at Ochanja market Onitsha in Anambra State may have a lot of stories that are not known in the public.
According to a source,there were reasons the contractor was in hurry to complete the project that took place in an open place like market with no adequate supervision.
The Onitsha Market building which collapsed on Monday claimed the lives of five persons while more than 26 people were rescued with various degrees of wounds and they are still receiving treatments in hospitals.
Our investigations revealed the building was duly approved by government and an MoU signed for the construction even when there was no state physical planing knowledge and governor’s seal authorizing the construction of the building.
It was also reliably gathered that the building was being rushed to be completed on or before 17th March because it has been designated to be commissioned as part of the governor’s achievement in two years in Office.
The source stated that the building was being rushed so that it would be one of the projects that would be commissioned as this administration marks two years.
“You could see the construction was going on day and night with light in order to meet up with the deadline. The governor may not know much that played out in the deal but many of the top government officials were in the full knowledge of the construction. They knew why the building was being rushed to completion ” the source said .
According to the source,the project is a Public Private Partnership PPP and many top government officials had visited the construction site many times to encourage the contractor to speed up the construction to meet with the deadline.
The sources further said that the only person that had not probably visited the site is the governor himself because he did not know what was playing out.
According to the source,because of the involvement of top government officials in the deal, they consciously told the governor that the contractor who was handling the project was not around when Soludo visited the site of building collapse.
“They will go and tell the contractor that ‘Oga’ was impressed by his pace of work and he wanted him to finish the building on time. Because of the impression created by some of these top government officials,the contractor was forced to be working day and night with light. They use generator to work at night” the sources stated.
Also another government official who confided in our reporter said there was an agreement between the state government and local government councils that only one storey shall be built in market places in the state with green garden and space.
According to the source, building of two storey in the market was not in the original memorandum of understanding MoU sent to the state governor.
” Sad enough, Some of the top government officials went behind the state government to sign MoU to build two storey building against the governor’s directive. Two storey building is not the original MoU sent to the governor that was approved. The state government and local government councils were edged out in the signing of MoU,because they knew they were doing the wrong thing. Ordinarily,what was supposed to be, was the State government and local government council were to sign the MoU and not government agency signing an MoU for market building” the sources said .
According to the source, when it comes to market and Parks ,legally,it is the between State government and local government council and not agency or any other government official.
Meanwhile,during the the governor’s visit to site of incident he ordered the contractor handling the collapsed building to clear the debris of the collapsed building at his own cost.
According to the governor,the impunity of building with unapproved plans has remained one of the major problems in the state, noting that such act has to be stopped.
Soludo said he had wanted the builder to be present and explain why he would be building that kind of structure in the market without government approval.
According to the governor,they told him that the contractor was not around.
He instructed that structure shall only be erected in any of Anambra market with approval from state physical planing with his signature affixed.
” I must sign all building plans for market before the contractors could commence construction in any market” he said
He described the collapse as “tragic and an incident that was not supposed to happen.”he said
He also stated that government was going to come down on the contractor as government did not approve of the building.
Soludo further stated that the state governor would redesign the market and build it properly.
He also stated that all buildings constructed without proper approval will be brought down henceforth, including structures currently under construction at other markets.
According to him,a comprehensive inventory of buildings in Anambra markets and public places shall be conducted.
The governor also said that markets in the state will undergo integrity tests to identify and remove potentially unsafe structures and individuals found responsible for illegal construction will face legal consequences.
A woman in her 60 ,Madam Adaku Madumere who sat in front of her shop moody with her hand on her jaw looking at the collapsed building said her son would have been a victim, if not for God.
The woman who spoke with our reporter said what happened on Monday was like a nightmare to her.
The woman who continuously chanted “If not God , If not God, ” said she was yet to come out of that Monday incident shock.
“That day was Sit at home day so the market was almost empty and business was at its lowest state”
“Had it been that it was a normal market day the number of deaths and casualties would have been ten times “
“I came to collect some food stuffs to supply to a customer when we heard a laud sound and soon the two storey building disappeared and all that was left were dust and broken blocks ” she said.
She said her son was supposed to be one of the workers at the collapsed building and if not for his engagement at another building site on that fateful day he would have been a victim.
Some of the professionals in the Building Industry made up of Architects , Builders , Surveyors and Environmentalists faulted the construction which they said the contractor compromised on standard.
Dr Ifeanyi Anyanechi a member of Nigerian Institute Of Buildings said the cause of the collapse was traceable to a hurriedly done construction.
According to him ,the building was being rushed,no proper supervision was done to ensure quality of materials used
“If you look at the construction work you will discover that all concrete you have seen here and the columns are still fresh and the construction were being done in a rush and people have said that they were doing the work day and night with light without realizing that concrete has maturity period of two weeks or four weeks before you can impose any serious load on an already done concrete “
“Secondly, this is bad workmanship and I don’t want to complain about the sizes of the rods because if good workmanship was employed the collapse would not have occured and when you look at the links you will also discover that the links are supposed to be 8 mm and at 2-2-5 center but they used 6 mm and at times 900, 1,200mm center which was grossly inadequate, that was why there was sudden collapse “he stated.
Mr Ikenna Okpala the Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Institute Of Buildings complained about the standardization of building structures in the country.
“What we have here can be looked at from three angles , standardization in terms of process, in terms of material used “
“With regards to the process, there is nothing like professionalism” he said .
Chairman Builders in Private Practice Anambra State,Bldr Chijioke Okeke urged the Anambra state government to be alive to its responsibilities in Anambra order to avert further building collapse.
“The government of Anambra state should be up and doing as it concern building construction. There are professionals in the building environment and every Professional has his or her own area of competence “
“You have designers, Architects , but when it comes to building construction you have those who are known as a Builders,those trained in the art and science of building construction and management of artisans”
“I urge government to go inward and engage all the professionals in the respective fields to avert such terrible situation in the future and government should also implement the National Building Code which ensures that there must be a resident Builder at every site of building construction” he stated.
According to him,there is Builders Document or Building Production Management Document which includes methodology, safety plan , construction program and quality management plan which will guide whatever that is being done on the site .
He said all these were not observed in the constructions of the collapsed building.
Secretary of Onitsha South local government area, Mr Paul Onuachalla commended the Nigerian Institute Of Buildings for their visit to the site saying that government will always work with the body at all times.
Onuachalla explained that; ” As you can see I am putting on a mourning cloth because we are mourning the death of people at the collapsed building”
“When we heard about what happened we mobilized the excavators to the site as well as the men of the fire service and the medical personnel and that was what helped us to save many lives even though we recorded five deaths “
“We have also taken proactive measures by setting up a seven man panel of enquiry to understudy the remote and immediate causes of this incident and the panel is to make recommendations on what to do “
When contacted the Press Secretary to the governor Mr Christian Aburime on phone he said any allegation that government wanted to commission building was false and misleading.
About Author
