The senate on Wednesday urged the regulatory agencies in building and construction sector in Nigeria to ensure full compliance with professional standards of construction in the country.
The call followed a motion of urgent public importance on the massive building collapse and flood in Jos metropolis of Plateau.
The motion was brought by Sen Istifanus Gyang (PDP- Plateau) under order ,42 and 52 of the senate rules.
Gyang said the massive building collapse and flooding in the Jos metropolis had resulted in the death of 15 persons.
He said three people were killed from the flood, while 12 people were left dead from the building collapse.
He also said the recurring building collapse across the country was due to non adherence to professional standards of building rules by estate developers.
He described as more worrisome the alleged compromise by some officials of regulatory agencies in enforcing the building standards.
In his contribution, Sen Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo (PDP-Bayelsa,) appealed to his colleagues to support the motion.
He said the senate should ensure that the regulatory agencies issue necessary approvals for building to developers .
This ,he said would prevent cutting of corners by the developers and regulatory agencies.
Consequently, the Senate resolved to urge the regulatory agencies to enforce stipulated standards on all property developers.
It also urged the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to upgrade its capacity in terms of prompt response to disasters .
It also urged NEMA to supply relief materials to the affected people in Jos town.
The Senate further resolved to have a minute silence for the victims
“Upon examination, the ambulance which has two occupants, was intercepted and concealed in the ambulance was 10 cartoons of 225mg of tramadol drugs.
“Investigation revealed that the stolen cartons of tramadol were pilfered from an undeclared container at the a terminal and physical examination further revealed that 211 cartoons of the drugs were missing from the container.
“We also discovered a total of 572 cartons of tramadol inside the suspected container with seal number 1155214, ” Abba-Kura said.
According to him, the duty paid value (DPV) of the stolen drugs stands at N59.3 million.
The controller expressed displeasure toward these economy saboteurs and their unpatriotic attitude despite efforts by Nigeria Customs Service to ride the nation of illicit drugs.
“It is regrettable to state here that while the Nigeria Customs Service is working round the clock to free this country of illicit goods, some recalcitrant and unpatriotic citizens are not relenting in their desperate urge to sabotage our efforts.
“Ordinarily nobody would suspect that such act can be committed by supposed stakeholders that ought to be collaborating with the service to rid the nation of these harmful drugs.
“The Command’s strategy of 24hours surveillance in and around the port has continued to yield desired results,” he said.
Abba-Kura said that preliminary investigation was ongoing as the command was currently working hard to ascertain the level of the offence.
He said that the command had also generated N20 billion between July 1 and July 15 within the last 12 working days.
Abba-Kura, however, said that investigations were ongoing to further uncover those behind the deal, adding that customs was not after revenue alone but also to protect the health of the nations.
The driver of the ambulance said the owner of the goods now at large, gave him N2,000 to assist him convey the goods to the ports gate.
The second suspect, who claimed to be a stevedore workers at the port, said he was offered N50,000 to drive a container containing a soap inside the ambulance.
The suspect said he did not know that it was containing tramadol drugs.
The ambulance belongs to Medbury medical services.
