The Chairman of the Special Investigative Panel (SIP) , Engr. George Okoroma centre front row, and other members in a group picture
By Isah Hussein
Four months after the collapse of a 21 storey building in Ikoyi, Lagos State on November 1st, 2021, a Special Investigative Panel(SIP) constituted to unravel the circumstances leading to the collapse have submitted its report to the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN).
The report was on Thursday 10th , February 2022 presented by the Chairman of the Investigative Panel, Engr. George C. Okoroma to the President of COREN, Engr. Aliu Rabiu.
Engr. Okoroma while presenting the report stressed the need for all regulatory bodies and stakeholders to come together and jointly fashion out mechanisms to ensure quality control and making sure that civil engineering practice in Nigeria conforms to international best practices.
He said the inauguration of the SIP on the 10th of November, 2021, few days after the collapse of the building, had the mandate to investigate and unravel the immediate and remote cause of the building collapse.
He said; “the panel after intensive investigation exercise came out with a final report and we are sure that the recommendations will be implemented”
Engr. Aliu while receiving the report noted that the COREN Act, section1, sub-section1, item 1 empowers COREN to investigate engineering failures and that the incident of the Ikoyi building collapse was indeed an engineering failure.
He assured the SIP members that COREN, in line with it’s mandate as outlined in the Act, will make sure that the recommendations of the panel are implemented by government.
While highlighting 2 key lessons that was learnt according to him, in the course of the investigation, he said that; ” going forward, after we must have seen what went wrong, we would apply some measures to correct ourselves and also sanction negligence by practitioners in accordance with the law”
The COREN President further gave assurances that the report will be forwarded to the appropriate organs of government with executive summary and advise on implementation of the recommendations
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