The Lagos State Government has started the collection of DNA samples from corpses recovered from the 21-storey building that collapsed on Gerrard Road, in the Ikoyi area of Lagos State.
It was gathered that the 21-storey building crumbled last Monday around 2pm.
The skyscraper, owned by Fourscore Heights Limited, trapped over 50 persons, including the firm’s Managing Director, Femi Osibona; his friend, a United States of America-based Nigerian businessman, Wale Bob-Oseni; his personal assistant, Oyinye Enekwe, and clients, among others.
At least 44 people have been confirmed dead in the incident.
Since the incident happened, family members of victims and sympathisers had thronged the area daily, hoping to see their loved ones alive, while some lamented that they were not allowed to identify their loved ones.
The affected families were, however, granted access on Saturday to find their members among the corpses recovered and deposited in the Lagos Mainland Hospital morgue, Yaba.
Speaking with our correspondent on Monday, the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotosho, said the state government had begun sample collection of bodies that could not be recognised.
Omotosho added that the panel set up by the state Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, had started work after it was inaugurated.
He said, “There was no recovery of dead body today (Monday). What we are doing now at Yaba (the morgue) is that we have started collecting samples for DNA and people have been going there to identify bodies. We are collecting the samples to identify their family members; there are some bodies that you cannot recognise and that’s why we are collecting the samples.”
Meanwhile, the Lagos State House of Assembly has called on the state governor to compensate the families of those who died in the incident.
The Speaker of the House, Mudashiru Obasa, who presided over the plenary on Monday, said the tragedy happened because regulatory agencies did not do their jobs properly hence government must take responsibility.
He said, “The government should compensate their families. If the agencies had done the needful, we would not have this sad occurrence.”
