RAYMOND OZOJI reports
The timely response of the Awka Capital Territory Development Authority (ACTDA) to the rescue of over 100 students of Nnamdi Azikiwe University residing at Legacy Lodge Quintex Street Ifite-Awka averted what would have amounted to a festival of deaths had the two storey building collapsed prior to government rescue mission.
Exclusive investigations by this journalist revealed that the ill-fated Legacy Lodge had developed cracks on the walls for more than three years and the caretaker in charge of the building paid no attention to the cracks until the cracks penetrated through the 54 rooms of the building thereby endangering lives of the tenants and showing signs of imminent collapse.
This journalist gathered from a shop owner who identified herself as Mummy Sommy that occupants of the building have been complaining that the building is shaking due to cracks on the walls but the caretaker didn't take the tenants serious until catastrophe struck and all the tenants, according to her, were displaced and rendered homeless.
The Legacy Lodge president who identified himself as Clinton Oguh, a graduate of Architecture of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, told this journalist that he reported to the caretaker after their suckaway sank about structural damages in the building but the caretaker treated his observations with nonchalance until the cracks engulfed the entire building.
Oguh stated that he noticed the cracks about three years ago and called attention of the caretaker to it whom he said reported to the lodge management but no remedial actions were taken to save the building from total collapse.
He said there are 54 rooms and 2 shops in the building and each room has about 2 or 3 occupants in it, adding that all the tenants are currently stranded with their properties scattered in neighbouring compounds.
Although he was grateful to God that nobody died but he was equally concerned that some tenants sustained severe injuries while others lost most of their belongings. The lodge president who appealed that they be refunded their money, stated that most of the students renewed their rents February this year and now they are all homeless because the building has been pulled down by government.
He therefore made a passionate request to the government for alternative accommodations for victims of the failed building and possible refunds because the lodge management have abandoned them to their fate even as he expressed profound gratitude to the Dean of Students' Affairs of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, whom he said has helped in providing accommodations for some of the students while many others are still roaming the streets aimlessly looking for shelter.
When contacted, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Awka Capital Territory Development Authority (ACTDA) Dr. Ossy Onuko stated that the Anambra State Government should be commended for being proactive in saving lives and preventing what would have culminated into a monumental disaster.
Onuko noted that the building was fractured; government saw it; asked the occupants to leave and pulled the building down to save lives.
##
0 Comments