BY BRIGHT JACOB
The news of the collapse of the 21-storey building at 20, Gerard Road, in Ikoyi, no doubt, came as a rude shock to Nigerians. What started as a mega dream for the developer, late Femi Osibona, turned out to be the graveyard for his aspirations, and sadly, too, extinguishing his promising life in a most bizarre manner.
Surprisingly, after all the reported obvious human errors on the parts of the Lagos State Government agency vested with building control, and Osibona, videos emerged of Osibona’s seeming over-reliance on God, which some say excellence and due diligence were substituted for.
In an interview with a television station, Osibona had stated that he relied on God’s grace to build the 360 degrees Ikoyi homes and that he believed in God.
According to him, “We have something in 360 degrees. One of the three buildings is called Grace, another one is called Peace, and another, Faith. Those (grace, peace and faith) are the things that are working here. When the grace of God is upon you, things just work.
“I believe so much in God, sir,” he had told the interviewer.
“Without God behind yoau, you can’t make it. That’s my belief,” he added.
Responding, a former aide to ex-president, Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri, in an Instagram post, stated the following, “I watched Femi Osibona talk about relying on God’s grace to build the Ikoyi building that collapsed. While we may want to all blame Mr. Osibona, he is a symptom of Nigeria’s over reliance on religion.
“Nigeria is collapsing because we want God’s grace to do for us what God has empowered us to do by ourselves. Christ described God’s grace in Matthew 5:45. God’s grace is for everybody. It is not only for Christians. It can never be withdrawn.
“The essence of God’s grace is that it empowers us to do things with an excellent attitude. It does not absolve us from work. Grace is unmerited favour. But that does not mean we should give a building contract to people who do not merit their qualifications?” he concluded.
Another video that emerged after the collapse of the building was the one in which a popular gospel singer, Adeyinka Alaseyori, was seen with the late Osibona, singing songs of praise to God and dancing, too, at the very top of the building.
While reacting to the video and trying to allay the fears of her fans, the singer had said that she was safe and that the video was not a recent one.
She also said that her heart was with everyone and that every life was important. She also called for prayers even as rescue efforts were going on.
However, a radio personality, Ifedayo Olarinde, also known as Daddy Freeze, took umbrage at Alaseyori’s remarks.
Freeze said, “should you be on the site of an uncompleted building praying, singing and dancing with no safety hat, goggles or shoes? Stop endangering your lives! Construction sites are not venues for prayers. With all the prayers, did the building still not collapse? God cannot be mocked.”
When The Point later spoke with Amechi Asugwuni, Deputy President, Nigeria Labour Congress and former national president of National Union of Civil Engineering Construction Furniture and Wood Workers, he said, “Faith without works is dead. Faith has everything to do with doing the right things. Faith comes by hearing the word of God, and the word of God has never taught us to be foolish. So, there is no way you can call a building “faith”, for instance, and that building was standing on sand.
“Everything has a procedure for its execution. Even the Bible also tells us that a building that is on sandy soil will be swept away by the wind, while the one set on a rock will stand the test of time. So, nobody should be selective with the word of God. The word of God enjoins us to be wise so that we can excel. Apart from that, it is your deeds that define whether you are a good man, not your name.”
Answering further questions about the builder naming his buildings faith, peace and grace, Asugwuni said, “the question is, beyond faith, peace and grace, what was the original intent for the building? That is what we should concentrate on. If a building is called “peace”, was that building meant to serve the peace in Nigeria?
“On the approval document, it is even possible that they must have met all the requirements, but the execution could be where they had issues. As I said, the implementation stage is where compromise comes in, not in the approval papers which I believe were issued in line with standards. The official sent by the government to supervise the project must have been compromised
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“The title or name you give to a structure has nothing to do with the solidity of that structure, except, of course, your business name is peace. Anyone can demonstrate faith by writing anything religious about himself or what he has, but for us to remain concrete, in order that we send the right message to society, we must blame what has happened on poor supervision, and for that, the government must take the responsibility.
“The government gives approval for a structure, the government ought to ensure that what was approved is what was established. You cannot apply for approval to build a 15-story building and proceed to build 21. And even though you are building the 15-story that was approved for you, the necessary procedures must be observed.”
The NLC deputy chairman went ahead to list the importance of building professionals like architects and structural engineers. According to him, every piece of advice given by these professionals, as well as the test results of their building examination, must be strictly adhered to.
Furthermore, he said, “the owner of that structure might not have had the money to purchase all the things required of him for the building, and that is where compromise comes in. That is also where the government should have come in. The government should be strict.
“On the approval document, it is even possible that they must have met all the requirements, but the execution could be where they had issues. As I said, the implementation stage is where compromise comes in, not in the approval papers which I believe were issued in line with standards. The official sent by the government to supervise the project must have been compromised.
“And to the developer, unfortunately, he is late now, it is far better you implemented what was approved and get your building, than to compromise and lose all, because now you haven’t just lost all, you have also killed innocent people, who you can never be able to compensate their families.”
On the efforts of the Lagos State government in addressing cases of building collapse in the state, Asugwuni commended the effort of Governor Sanwo-Olu, and said that suspending the General Manager of the building control agency was a step in the right direction.
However, he said that more needs to be done.
“It is good that the GM was suspended, but more of such steps should be taken especially with officials responsible for that very building. Beyond sacking the GM, somebody must be held responsible, because someone was nominated to supervise that work. You are supposed to come at the DPC level to ensure that the required rods were used before the decking was done. And even after pouring and setting the slab, going to the next level, which is the first floor, requires your permission, as a government official.
“It is unfortunate that we lost some souls. This tragedy is a big lesson, not just to Lagos, but Nigeria generally. This is why engineers must always submit their certificate for any project they want to undertake so that if any tragedy occurs, you withdraw their certificates; because for you to compromise and continue what you knew was insufficient means that you were planning to kill more than the current casualty figure. Assuming occupants had taken possession of that place, we would have been talking about hundreds of people dead. This whole thing happened now for the testimony of those in the future because if it didn’t happen now, it would have happened in two or ten years’ time from now,” he concluded.
Calls made by The Point to the national body of the Christian Association of Nigeria were not answered.
However, Reginald Anene, a pastor at the Deeper Christian Life Ministry, in his submission, said that no matter how much anyone relies on God, God will never support mediocrity in any shape, form or size.
According to him, “God created the world in excellence, and it’s left for man to do anything in excellence or to do a shoddy job. Whatever happens here on earth is man’s responsibility. The sovereignty of God has nothing to do with the choices we make.
