Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara has ordered the immediate closure of the site of the five-storey building that collapsed along Odili Road, Port Harcourt, leaving one person dead and several others injured.
The governor gave the directive on Thursday during an inspection of the disaster site, declaring that no activity would resume there until a full investigation uncovers the cause of the collapse.
Describing the incident as unfortunate, Fubara revealed that preliminary findings indicated the developer allegedly ignored repeated inspection efforts by state authorities and failed to comply with building regulations.
“Nothing is going to happen on this site anymore. We are going to ensure this place is completely sealed off until we get to the root cause of this incident,” the governor said.
According to Fubara, officials from the Ministry of Physical Planning had previously attempted to inspect the project, but the developer reportedly insisted that the site fell under the jurisdiction of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) and not the Rivers State Government.
The governor stressed that the issue now goes beyond jurisdiction, noting that the priority is ensuring justice for the victim who lost his life and preventing similar tragedies in the future.
He also expressed condolences to the affected families, stating that the disaster could have been avoided if proper engineering standards and construction regulations had been followed.
Fubara questioned how such a project was allowed to continue despite what he described as obvious structural defects from the beginning.
Meanwhile, rescue and evacuation efforts at the site were temporarily suspended on Thursday evening after no additional victims were found.
Residents, youths and scavengers were later seen at the scene removing iron rods from the collapsed structure.
Authorities are expected to continue investigations into the cause of the building collapse.
Source: Rivers State Government
