One week after the Ikoyi 21-storey building collapse on Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos State, it is reported that recovery operations are at a 99% completion stage.
The responders are on the verge of concluding their operations as the death toll is reported to have risen to 44 with the recovery of additional 2 dead bodies from the rubble on Sunday.
This disclosure was made by the Acting Southwest Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Ibrahim Farinloye, on Sunday, November 7, 2021, with the recovery operation still ongoing with rescue agencies as it heads towards ground zero.
The bodies were discovered and removed after the state Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Saturday around 6pm, said 42 bodies had been recovered so far from the rubble.
Meanwhile, the Association of Nigerian Chartered Architects has called for three probe panels to investigate the circumstances that led to the building collapse.
The association said political, technical and judicial probe panels were needed to unravel the situation.
Farinloye had also disclosed that the Federal Government’s deployment of the Nigerian Army Corps of Engineers to assist in the rescue operation on Sunday evening was turned down by the Commissioner for Special Duties, Bamgbose Martins, on ground that the work was almost over and that the resources on ground were enough to complete the outstanding job.