Trouble started in the late hours of Wednesday May 2nd 2021, when the two-storey building, owned by an Engineer, whose name is yet to known, entirely collapsed, destroying a residential building and a shop.
It was learnt that out of the six family members who were trapped, four sustained minor injuries while two were seriously injured and hospitalized.
It was gathered that properties and goods worth over a million naira were lost to the incident.
Narrating their ordeal, the father of the trapped family, Mr. Augustine Ikeji, who thanked God for saving his family, especially his two year old daughter who was totally covered by the collapsed building, disclosed that the incident occurred around 11:00pm.
He called on both government and private individuals to come to his aid to save his hospitalized wife and daughter, and replace some of his property that was destroyed.
On her part, the landlady of the affected building, Mrs. Amaka Okonkwo, a widow with about five children, attributed the incident to use of substandard materials, explaining that the building started to give signs of collapse before the completion.
She alleged that during the period, some of the pillars collapsed just as she called on government and other relevant authorities to assist her in rebuilding her house which she said is her only source livelihood.
A tenant, Lady Ogechukwu Ndu, and a shop owner whose goods were trapped by the collapsed building, Mr. Sunday Nwaezi, frowned at the action of the owner of the collapsed building, who purportedly fled on hearing about the incident.
It was learnt that the landlord fled for fear of been attacked by irked youths without knowing the health condition of the trapped family just as she appealed to the state government to take action against him to serve as a deterrent to other substandard builders.
At the incident, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Awka Capital Territory Development Authority, ACTDA, Ven. Amaechi Okwuosa, while describing the incident as unfortunate, pointed out that the building was built without adequate approval from ASUDEB.
He disclosed that ASUDEB, is an agency that was in charge of issuing building approvals to developers during the erection of the building about ten years ago, saying that the land of the collapsed building now belongs to Anambra state government as contained in relevant sections of the state laws on building collapse.
Ven. Okwuosa cautioned developers in the state against cutting corners in acquisition of building approvals, as the agency will not spare any more found guilty of any developmental laws in the state.
