The recent collapse of a multi-storey building in Alakija, Lagos, which claimed at least nine lives and left several others injured, has emphasized the continuous and persistent structural safety crisis in Lagos, raising various questions about regulatory failure, weak enforcement, and institutional accountability.
For a city that prides itself as Africa’s model megacity, Lagos continues to witness recurring building collapse incidents despite the existence of laws, regulatory agencies, and repeated government assurances aimed at preventing such disasters, making this a contradiction too difficult to ignore.
Despite various laws regulating building safety, Lagos still falls behind, recording major building collapses across the state.
In 2006, the National Building Code set minimum standards for structural design, material quality, foundation strength, and professional supervision during construction.
At the state level, the Lagos State Urban and Regional Planning and Development Law of 2010 was enacted to regulate physical development and ensure compliance with approved building standards. The Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), which became fully operational in 2012, was also established to inspect buildings, identify distressed structures, and enforce compliance.
The state further amended its planning laws in 2019 to strengthen enforcement. However, the recurring collapse of buildings suggests that the problem is not the absence of laws, but the failure to enforce them effectively.
In many cases of building collapse, familiar factors emerge: substandard construction materials, poor professional supervision, illegal structural alterations, excessive loading, weak foundations, the use of unqualified artisans in place of certified professionals, or the repeated allegation that warning signs are often visible long before disaster strikes.
However, due to little or no inspections, these factors are ignored. Reports from residents around the Alakija building indicated that concerns had allegedly been raised about the condition of the structure before the collapse, exposing a dangerous gap in inspection, reporting, and enforcement mechanisms.
Although rescue operations are commendable, the responsibility of government agencies should not begin after a collapse occurs. Instead, it should be focused on prevention, identifying weak structures early, enforcing evacuation where necessary, and ensuring that non-compliant buildings are either strengthened or demolished before lives are lost.
The Alakija tragedy has further highlighted a major issue, triggering more than sympathy and condolence statements; it also calls for a thorough investigation into the approval history of the collapsed building, the quality of inspections carried out, and whether any prior warnings were ignored.
Furthermore, it underscores the need to strengthen independent structural audits, improve transparency in approval processes, digitize inspection records, and ensure strict prosecution of violators by the state government.
Building collapses in Lagos have become too frequent to be dismissed as isolated accidents, with each collapse pointing to a system that failed to act when action was still possible.
The tragedy in Alakija should serve as a wake-up call. If Lagos truly seeks to become a smart and resilient megacity, enforcement of building safety regulations can no longer be treated as optional because several lives depend on it.