Synagogue: Collapsed Building Has No Government Permit Says Contractor

Synagogue: Collapsed Building Has No Government Permit Says Contractor

The building contractor, Akingbola Fatiregun, who built the collapsed guest house belonging to the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) yesterday admitted that the building had no permit from the state government.

The contractor, who is the Managing Director (MD) of Hardrock Construction and Engineering Limited, made this disclosure while testifying before the Lagos State Coroner's Court investigating the cause of the collapsed building.

Fatiregun also admitted that the Lagos State Building Control Agency was not consulted before his company started the construction.

The inquest was set up on September 12, 2014 by the State government after about 116 christian tourists mostly from South Africa died in the tragic incident.

The contractor, who had failed on many occasions to honour the invitation of the Coroner, Chief Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe, finally showed up on Thursday claiming that though no permit was gotten for the construction, the building was, however, constructed following standard procedures.

He also claimed that his company was contracted to supply the manpower and equipment for the 6 storey building while the church opted to supply the materials for the building.

The contractor further told the Coroner that the architectural and structural design of the collapsed building was done by another firm which supervised the construction of the building by his company.

Fatiregun maintained that although SCOAN supplied the materials for the building, his company took further steps to test the materials supplied to ensure that they were up to standard.

He also claimed that materials supplied by SCOAN which included sand, cement, quarry and reinforcement were of the best quality anywhere in the world.

The contractor, who insisted that his
11 years old company before the incident had engaged in major project in Nigeria, Ghana, Niger and United States of America, stated that the construction was divided into two phases.

He stressed that the first phase was to raise the building up to the 4th floor while the second phase was to raised the building to the 6th floor.

According to him, during the construction of the 1st phase, when any floor of the building was completed, the supervising firm would inspect and give approval before the construction of additional floor begins."

The contractor insisted that though the foundation of the building was meant for a 6 storey building, it was constructed to carry addition additional four floors.

Fatiregun said, "Prophet Temitope Joshua, had no direct involvement in the project which was handled by the church building committee. I was shocked when news got to me that the building had collapsed.

"On my visit to the collapsed sight, I observed that the pattern of the collapse was inconsistent with structural defect. It could have been caused by other factors.

"Structural failures have peculiar ways of falling but this one was unusual. From my observation, the building came down symmetrically as if it was guided. The fall appeared as if a method of bringing down a building was applied.

"During the inspection of the evacuation of the debris from the collapsed building along with officials of the ministry of land, it was observed that the foundation was intact.

"Hardrock Construction participated in the rescue operation of the victims by providing personnel and equipment."