Prosecute culprits of Abuja building collapse – Adebayo

The Executive Director, The Housing Development Advocacy Network (HDAN), Festus Adebayo, has called on the FCT minister to keep his promise of prosecuting  staff of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA),  Federal Housing Authority (FHA) and developers of the building that collapsed in Abuja recently.

Adebayo, who is a renowned advocate of housing development in Nigeria, made the call in a statement made available to Daily Trust.

He said the FCDA and FHA officials found culpable should be charged for manslaughter as, according to him, they were responsible for the loss of three lives of the construction workers.

The executive director urged the minister to muster the political will to punish offenders of building collapse in the territory.

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“We have visited the site and what we saw in the area was too bad. We are waiting for the FCT minister to keep his promise of prosecuting the culprits,” he said.

Adebayo also said it was high time a full department of building inspectorate was created in the FCDA.

He said he would personally head to court to seek justice for the construction workers who died in the collapse.

Three persons were confirmed dead while over 40 others were rescued from the rubble of a building that collapsed on 7th Avenue in the Gwarinpa area of Abuja on February 2.

The FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello, had directed security agencies to arrest the officials of FHA and the developer over the collapse of the  three-storey building which was under construction.

The coordinator, Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), Umar Shuaibu, who conveyed the minister’s directive at the site of the collapsed building two weeks ago, also said the minister asked the security personnel to arrest the FHA officer in charge of granting the development permit and the engineer supervising the development for alleged manslaughter.