Less than 24 hours after a three-storey building collapsed killing 14 persons with four others hospitalised in Jos North LGA of Plateau State, Governor Simon Lalong has declared that buildings unstructured within the metropolis would henceforth be demolished.
He also called on the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE) to be up and about in their professional responsibilities to prevent recurrence of such calamities.
The Governor, who was represented by the Deputy Governor of the State, Prof. Sonni Tyoden, stated this when he visited the scene of the incident at about 11am on Tuesday.
He said, “This thing that happened is not a creation of anybody, but we ourselves, so we should be on the lookout to see that we prevent recurrences.
“When people are constructing buildings they should make sure they get the appropriate authorities which is either Jos Metropolitan Development Board (JMDB) or Ministry of Lands and Survey; and the supervisory agencies should also do their own job.
“I’m calling on the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE) Plateau State Branch to be up and doing, mobilize your members to do the right thing, because if they are doing the right thing, we shouldn’t be having instances like this.
“And I’m also saying that from now onwards, JMDB, Lands and Survey and the security agencies would move street to street, identify buildings that are not properly structured, mark them for demolition; and we are going to demolish them,” he ordered.
Lalong also warned that trucks passing the area should be very careful, stressing that: “let us protect ourselves by doing the right thing”.
He commiserated with the community and the local government area and pray that such incident never happens again.
DAILY POST recalls that at about 4pm on Monday, residents of Butcher Line in Dilimi area of Jos North LGA, said the building belonging to Alhaji Rufai Nalele (among the deceased persons), a Jos businessman collapsed.
Nalele had returned home shortly before the building went down trapping him and other members of his family, labourers and other employees.
