April 30, (THEWILL) – The Cross River State Government has warned illegal builders that it will no longer be business as usual as the Government will ensure the state does not experience such an incident again.
Eric Anderson, the State Information Commissioner, stated this during his visit to the site of a collapsed building in Calabar, the state capital.
The tragic incident occurred at Muri Nta Eke Street, off Ikot Eyo in Calabar Municipality over the weekend, as workers were trying to complete the second decking of the building.
“We are also using this opportunity to let other illegal builders know that it’s no longer business as usual.
“We will ensure that nothing like this ever happens again in Calabar and Cross River as a whole,” Anderson said.
Providing more information about the incident, the Commissioner said thirteen people were on site but all are safe except a young boy, who is still trapped.
He promised that everything possible will be done to ensure the young boy is rescued.
”The people originally working at the site were 13 but three of them took a break before the incident, so only 10 were on the ground when the building collapsed.
“We can account for the 10 persons but the security guard told us that a boy was seen at the site seconds before the collapse.
“We are trying to get to the bottom of the rubble to make sure the boy is found, until then, we will remain at the site.
“We are here with our equipment to make sure we get to the bottom of the rubble, it is obvious that the contractor, who happens to be the owner of the structure, was also the site engineer, building engineer and all.
“From what we have seen so far at the site of the incident, it is obvious he used substandard materials for the project. The mixtures, the blocks, and the iron rod used were all sub-standard,” Anderson said.
THEWILL Correspondent, Aniekan Bassey has over six years experience that spans across several fields in print journalism including development communication, sexual reproductive and health rights issues, crime, climate change, social justice, business and human interest stories.
