By Austin Ogwuda
THE Head of Development Control in Awka Capital Development Agency (ACTDA), Mr. Charles Ekwunife has attributed the harassment of inspection officers whenever they go to inspect construction of new buildings in Anambra State to frequent building collapse in the State, noting that the two-storey building which collapsed few days ago at Ekeoyibo market, Amawbia was no exception .
He said said it is very unfortunate that contactors and developers are adopting the harassment strategy and blatantly refusing to abide by the regulations guiding construction of high rising buildings across the State.
Ekwunife who stated this while reacting to the Amawbia incident disclosed that “most of the buildings have no approval papers, staff and officials of the Agency are always harassed and attacked by contractors at the sites whenever they go for inspection.
“When officers of the Development Control department invite contractors to present structural drawings and other documents for examination and approval they refuse and still go ahead to continue developing the sites
“They use local law enforcement agents; disregard several Stop Work orders and there is no building approval from us (ACTDA). We have it on record that the staff of the Department of Development Control was attacked by contractors when they came to enforce the laws on the building.
….. Baby crawls out from the rubbles
Meanwhile a toddler reportedly crawled out of the rubbles to the astonishment of the onlookers, 24 hours after the collapse. The baby was among those trapped including the mother who was later rescued and taken to the hospital.
The body of an operative of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) including that of a young man suspected to be a carpenter working on the site before the collapse have been evacuated bringing death toll to three as at Friday
Credit: SUN
