On Sunday, 4th of September, 2022, a seven-storey building located along Abiodun Abila Oniru Street in Oniru, Lagos collapsed. The collapse has, so far, been considered fatal as there were up to 6 people within the building at the time of the collapse, with 4 people confirmed dead as at Monday, 5th of September, 2022. 

Building before collapse

 

While the cause of the collapse is currently unknown, the building had been previously sealed twice by the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) due to planning approval issues. Despite the action by the agency, the building developers and contractors proceeded with the construction of the now-collapsed building. 

While the details of the building and project team remain unknown, the Lagos State government has ordered the immediate arrest of the building developers and contractors, while the Lagos State Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Idris Salako, has resigned his position. 

This collapse follows on from a 3-storey building collapse in Ebute-Metta that was recorded earlier on in the year , and the 21 storey building in Ikoyi collapsed in November 2021. So far, Lagos State has recorded the highest number of building collapses in Nigeria, estimated at 315 collapses between 1974 and July 2022 according to the Building Collapse Prevention Guild. This was estimated at an average of 4.8 collapses each year in the past 5 years In a previous article.

Building after collapse