Dilapidated Building: LASEMA advises residents to seek alternative accommodation

The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) has advised residents of house 17, Obadina Street, Lagos Island, to seek alternative accommodation to enable it to carry out integrity test on the cracked building.

The Director-General of the agency, Dr Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) after visiting the three-storey building on Sunday in Lagos.

According to Osanyintolu, the attention of the agency was drawn to the building’s failing structural integritymby a responsible member of the Olosun Community Development Association (CDA) in the area.

He said that the agency’s response team, alongside the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) and the Materials Testing Agency would carry out a full inspection and integrity test on the entire building.

He said that the decking of the building was cracking and falling, rendering it dangerous.

Oke-Osanyintolu said that the results of the integrity test would determine the state of the building and whether it would be allowed to stand or to be levelled to ground zero.

He advised residents to exercise caution or begin to seek alternative accommodation while the integrity of the building is being determined.

The director-general said that the Lagos State Government was determined to prevent the unfortunate incidence of lives being lost due to unsafe building conditions.

He commended the effort of the CDA and promised to continue working with all stakeholders to prevent avoidable disasters in the state.