VAM News Update
At least two persons are currently battling for life at a private hospital after a school-turned-residential building in the Ketu area of Lagos partially collapsed on Sunday.
The building housing over 800 rooms with hundreds of residents known as Agboye Estate on Oduntan Street, Ketu, first caved in on Saturday afternoon following hours of rainfall that greeted most parts of Lagos.
On Sunday afternoon, as residents were still trying to salvage their belongings, the building crumbled again, destroying another structure inside the compound before collapsing completely.
The development sent panic across the area, forcing hundreds of families and individuals residing in the building to vacate the premises.
During a visit to the affected building on Sunday evening, dozens of residents were seen moving their belongings in different directions as officials of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency cordoned off the premises.
The affected compound housing several defective buildings has been marked for demolition by Lagos officials.
On December 2014, Saturday PUNCH, after weeks of investigation, published a report on the collapsed building titled, “500-room house in Lagos where tenants live as prisoners”.
The report chronicled the horrible living conditions of tenants of Agboye Estate, who contended with snakes, scorpions, and other dangerous animals as a result of stagnant sewage water at the back of the building.
In most of the blocks constructed only inches away from each other, at least 12 rooms shared a single toilet and bathroom.
On average, two persons occupy each room, bringing the number of users of a single toilet to 24.
Apart from that, tenants are forbidden from using power generators, electric kettles, air conditioners, or even hosting important social gatherings like naming ceremonies or birthdays within the facility by the landlord, Onamo Agboye.
The only entrance leading in and out of the compound closes at 11:00pm daily — nobody goes in or out once the clock ticks.
Following the report by Saturday PUNCH at the time, the Lagos State Government partially sealed the building but lifted the sanction a few days later.
The landlord of Agboye Estate has since gone into hiding following Sunday’s tragedy. (PUNCH)