Two-storey Building Collapses in Port-Harcourt

By Sola Omoniyi, Lagos

A two-storey building under construction in Adagoerge, Port-Harcourt Rivers State, has collapsed.

The incident occurred Wednesday, June 28, late in the evening.

When some of the construction workers on site had gone home for the day, the building caved in. However, some of them were injured as a result of the collapse.

According to eyewitness reports, the building that collapsed belonged to a hotel, and they were attempting to add another building to the already existing hotel.

A building expert who spoke on the condition of anonymity blamed developers for hiring quacks and inexperienced builders to save money.

Emmanuel Nwachukwu advised developers not to be tempted to increase the number of floors to five or seven after receiving approval to build one or two. He also advised developers to hire qualified engineers rather than quacks because they want to make more money.

He added that developers should consider the value of people’s lives, the problems that would arise if a building collapsed, and refrain from using substandard materials in the future.