The Commissioner for Special Duties in Rivers State, Dr. John Bazia, has suggested that the 7-storey building which claimed several lives in Port Harcourt on the 23 of November, collapsed because of over 700 bags of cement stacked in it.
Bazia disclosed this yesterday in Port Harcourt during the sitting of five-man commission of inquiry constituted by the State government to investigate the immediate and remote cause of the tragic incident.
Bazia, who appeared as a witness to the rescue operations during the incident, said it was discovered that about 700 bags of cement were kept at the second floor of the collapsed building.
He stated that it was wrong for such load to be left on a building that was under construction, adding that the 700 bags of cement may be the cause of the incident.
He said: “I can assure you that all those that were alive were rescued. 31 persons were alive while 17 people died. It took us over two weeks to get to the basement of the building.
“I was informed by one of the workers at the site that 700 bags of cement were kept on the second floor. This load may have caused it. It is not good to keep such load on a building that is still under construction.”
Meanwhile, Commissioner of Urban Development and Physical Planning, Dr. Reason Onya, stated that the documents of the building were approved in 2014, stating that he only revalidated the documents.
Onya, who had stepped aside after the incident for the sake of integrity, stated that at the point of revalidation of the building documents that the original files domiciled in the state ministry could not be found, adding that he relied on the approval number found in the office.
He added that the ministry monitored the project till the incident occurred, adding that approval followed stipulated professional principles.
However, the Chairman of the Commission, Justice Adolphus Enebeli, had stated that the commission was given 18 mandates, adding that it would also make recommendation of punishment for anyone found culpable in the incident.