FCTA To Prosecute Those Culpable In Abuja Four-Storey Building Collapse As Investigation Commences

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) says it has commenced an investigation to unravel the immediate and remote causes of the four-storey building collapse on plot 965, Dape, Life Camp, in the Gwarinpa District of the FCT.

The FCTA Permanent Secretary, Adesola Olusade stated this during an on-the-spot assessment of the scene of the collapsed structure.

Olusade said anyone found culpable would be prosecuted.

According to a statement issued by the Head, Public Affairs, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Nkechi Isa, the permanent secretary blamed the building collapse on unprofessional and unwholesome practices, noting that the developer was served a stop work notice, which he ignored.

Olusade vowed that the relevant building codes would be invoked to punish all persons found culpable.

He said, “This site is permanently closed; a caveat will be placed on the plot so that some efforts are not made either by way of sale or any other transactions. We will also identify and establish culpability whether for officials of the administration or by external forces.”

Olusade directed the constitution of a committee to be chaired by the Executive Secretary, FCDA, Engr Hadi Ahmad, to investigate the remote and immediate causes of the building collapse.

The Director-General of the FEMA, Dr. Abbas Idriss, said the rescue operation had been suspended.

“Based on the information from those rescued, nobody is left in the ground. We have gone around; there is no presence of any human being.”

In other news, Kanyi Daily reported that Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State on Tuesday, released 80 buses and pick-up vans for free transportation of farmers from their communities to farmlands in a bid to reduce the high cost of living occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy.