The collapse in Lagos occurred less than a day after a similar incident in Port Harcourt, raising fresh concerns over building safety and regulatory enforcement in Nigeria.
Barely 24 hours after a five-storey building collapsed in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, another building disaster struck on Thursday as a three-storey structure caved in in the Alakija area of Lagos State.
According to information shared by theCable, the building collapsed on Thursday morning, triggering an emergency response by security operatives and residents.
PREMIUM TIMES gathered that police officers from the Area E Command and Satellite Division reportedly arrived at the scene shortly after the incident and joined local residents in efforts to rescue those trapped.
As of the time of filing this report, authorities had not confirmed the number of persons trapped, injured or killed in the incident.
The cause of the incident was also unknown at the time.
Videos and photographs circulating on social media showed rescuers combing through the debris in search of survivors.
The latest collapse follows renewed concerns over building safety in Nigeria’s major cities, where experts repeatedly cite poor construction practices, weak regulatory oversight and non-compliance with approved building standards as factors contributing to structural failures.
On Wednesday, a five-storey building under construction collapsed in the Woji area of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, trapping several persons and prompting an extensive rescue operation involving emergency agencies and security personnel.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that rescue workers are making frantic efforts to reach victims trapped beneath the rubble of the Port Harcourt building as investigations into the cause of the collapse commenced.
This newspaper also reported in May how school children escaped shortly before a three-storey building collapsed in Lagos.
The Lagos State Government and emergency management agencies had yet to issue detailed statements on Thursday’s incident as rescue efforts continued at the Alakija site.
