The Lagos State government’s White Paper on the recommendation by the six-man panel set up by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to investigate the collapse of a 21-storey building on Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, in November 2021, has accepted the recommendations of the panel report that the owners of the structure, Messrs Fourscore Heights should be prosecuted and the property forfeited to the state government.
In the White Paper released, the state government agreed with the recommendation of the panel that the existing two 15-storey buildings still standing at the site of the collapse on Gerrard Road in Ikoyi should be demolished and the land forfeited to the state government.
The collapsed 21-floor skyscraper, owned by Fourscore Heights Limited, trapped over 50 persons, including the firm’s Managing Director, Femi Osibona; his friend, the United States of America-based Nigerian businessman, Wale Bob-Oseni; his personal assistant, Oyinye Enekwe, and clients.
About 44 persons were said to have died as a result of the incident, nine survivors were rescued from the rubble of the collapsed building, while some artisans working in the building before it collapsed are still missing.
Shortly after the tragedy occurred, the Lagos state government constituted a panel led by Toyin Ayinde, to investigate the collapse of the building.
On January 5, 2022, the Ayinde-led panel submitted its report to the governor at the Lagos House, Ikeja. The chairman of the panel (Ayinde) said the panel spent approximately six weeks on the assignment and submitted the report as well as electronic recordings of all the sections and videos of proceedings in a hard drive to the Lagos State Attorney-General, Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN).