Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Wednesday set up the Independent Panel of Inquiry on the cause of the 21-storey building collapse in Ikoyi.
Addressing newsmen at the site of the collapsed building, Sanwo-Olu gave the panel a 30-day deadline to submit the report on the findings of the cause(s) of the collapse.
He also said that an executive order would be signed to give legal backing to the Panel of Inquiry set up to investigate the immediate and remote causes of the accident.
Members of the panel are Toyin Ayinde (Chairman); Ekundayo Onajobi (Secretary); Idris Akintilo; Yinka Ogundairo; Godfrey. O. Godfrey and Mrs Bunmi Ibrahim.
According to him, the terms of reference for the Independent Inquiry Panel will be to determine the causes of the collapse of the building under construction, “whether they were in full compliance with physical planning and building material laws of the state; to determine whether there was any supervisory or oversight lapse on the part of regulatory authority in the state.
“The panel is to determine the number of casualty and fatalities, to examine any other matter incidental to any of the terms as stated above, and to make necessary recommendation to guard against the occurrence of such incidents in the state,” he said.
The governor assured that the law would take its full course on whoever was found culpable in the accident.
“It is on record that we asked the General Manager of the Building Control Agency, Architect Oki to proceed on an indefinite suspension.
“You can rest assured that if there are other people that are found in the course of the investigation, everybody will also face the full wrath of the law.
“So, for us to get to the real issue of what had happened, I have set up a high powered commission of inquiry. It is a strong, professional, investigative panel that consists of everybody from outside of government.
“I will be signing an executive order to give legal backing to their composition, so that you can start work immediately and turn out a report not later than 30 days,” he said.
The state government also identified six of the nine survivors rescued from the rubble in the Ikoyi building collapse.
They are Oduntan Timilehin (26); Ahmed Keleku (19, from Cotonou); Sunday Monday (21, suffered left leg fracture); Adeniran Mayowa (37, hip injury); Solagbade Nurudeen (33, pelvic injury); and Waliu Lateef (32).
Sanwo-Olu said that bereaved families would be invited to identify their loved ones, latest by Thursday, after autopsy had been conducted on the bodies recovered.
