Collapsed lagos building: 82-year-old survivor dies in hospital..

As Lagos govt seals 15 distressed buildings at Odunfa
By Monsur Olowoopejo, Lucky Nwanekwu & Ufuoma Tiveruahor

LAGOS—82-year-old Alhaja Misturat Amodu, one of the survivors of the three-storey building that collapsed at Odunfa, Lagos Island, early on Wednesday, died at about 5:00pm same day.

This came, as the emergency team intensified efforts to complete evacuation of rubble at the site.

When Vanguard visited the scene, the combined team of Police, Army, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA; National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA; federal and state fire service; Lagos State Building Control Agency, LSBCA, and Lagos Safety Commission were on ground to manage the situation.

The octogenarian died at the Lagos Island General Hospital a few hours after she was rescued from the collapsed building.

Efforts by doctors to save her life from the injury she sustained on her thigh and other parts of her body proved abortive as she reportedly died early yesterday.

Confirming her death, the daughter of the deceased, Alhaja Fatimah, and her husband, Alhaji Tajudeen Ishola, said the deceased died at about 5:00pm after regaining consciousness.

Tajudeen explained that the octogenarian regained consciousness, demanded for water and died some minutes later.

“She spoke with us around 4pm. She said she was thirsty and a doctor told us to go and buy lucozade boost which she drank.

‘’We were preparing to do the X-ray on her thigh when everything changed. She died at about 5pm. She was well taken care of at the hospital. Mama hailed from Ilorin and she was 82 years old,” he said.

Daughter blames hospital
Daughter of the deceased, Fatimah Ishola, alleged that the late octogenarian would not have died had the hospital commenced treatment immediately she was rushed in.

She said: “They (medical officials) didn’t commence the treatment immediately Mama was rushed to the hospital by officials of Lagos State Ambulance Service, LASAMBUS.
‘’It was when my husband arrived the hospital some hours later that they commenced treatment.

“He (the husband) would have arrived early but he didn’t know the hospital she was transferred to. He located her hours later. It was when he arrived that the nurses gave him the list of drugs they will need for Mama’s treatment and collected some money.
‘’That was when they started the treatment. Some of the drugs were not administered on Mama. Over N20,000 was spent on drugs and none was administered on her.

“Mama wouldn’t have died if the medical officials had commenced the treatment earlier. Until her death, she was still talking. The LASAMBUS officials tried but the officials at Lagos Island General Hospital didn’t.

We lost millions —Occupants

Many of the occupants lamented that the property loss was in millions, saying “we couldn’t remove anything.”
Mrs. Fatimah Ishola, lamented that aside losing her mother, she also lost property worth millions of Naira.
“I have lost all I have. In fact, my friend gave me the cloth on me. My jewellery, international passports, several documents, including my daughters certificate.”
Another resident, Saidi Balogun, a dealer in clothes and wrist watches, also lamented
that some miscreants cashed in on the incident to steal at the scene, adding that he was able to recover a few of his belongings.

He said: “It is surprising that some people use a situation like this to steal. Out of the 40 wrist watches I kept at home, I was able to recover only six. The N480,000 I kept in my cupboard had also been stolen. I don’t even know where to head with my family members now.”

Lagos govt seals 15 distressed buildings at Odunfa

Worried by the state of the structures at Odunfa, Lagos State government has sealed 15 structures in the community.
The buildings were sealed by the Lagos State Building Control Agency, LASBCA and Lagos State Safety Commission.

Mr. Fouad Oki, General Manager of Lagos State Safety Commission in an interview at the scene of the collapsed building, said the agency had so far sealed over 15 houses.
He said: “All we are saying is that we want to know the structural integrity of these buildings.

“If the material laboratory result shows that the buildings are okay, we will reopen the sealed buildings. If it states otherwise, we will direct the owners of the structures to pull them down and build a better house.

“We will do everything to ensure that residents live safe. The action is not punitive but corrective.’’
Oki, however, warned the occupants of the sealed buildings not to break the deal.
“If they break the government seal, the law of the state will be applied. The test doesn’t take time before it is concluded,’’ he warned.