Another Building Collapses in Abuja

 

Building Collapse

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has witnessed another building collapse involving an abandoned two-storey structure with illegal occupants located at Utako District, Abuja. The building, which is situated behind the Headquarters of Media Trust office, publishers of Daily Trust Newspaper was said to have collapsed at about 9am of yesterday.  According to some eyewitness account who spoke to some journalists, the occupants were lucky enough to have escaped unhurt when the structure fell apart, with one of them said to have narrowly-escaped death.

Responding to enquiries, the Director, Department of Development Control (DDC), Mr. Yahaya Yusuf, disclosed that the building had long been marked for demolition and the owner was expected to foot the financial cost of the integrity test. Yusuf emphasised the need for owners of building to comply with standard building plans in order to avoid a situation where they have become death traps. He said: "We are aware that there was a building collapse somewhere in Utako. We had already marked the building and we told the owner to stop work. We were at the stage of conducting an integrity test when we heard about the building collapse. "An independent body was supposed to do that at the expense of the owner. There were no casualties as occupants of the uncompleted building had already been warned to vacate it". .