15 things we’ve heard about Ikoyi building collapse and Fourscore Homes CEO, Femi Osibona
1. On Monday, November 1, 2021, a 21-storey building collapsed in the highbrow Ikoyi area of Lagos. The site is located along Gerrard Road.
2. The building that collapsed was one of three structures that made up 360 Degrees Towers.
3. The structure was being developed by Fourscore Homes Limited, with about 65 per cent of the uncompleted apartments already paid for.
4. Apartments were being sold for between $1.2 million and $5 million. Some subscribers signed contracts ranging from $500,000 (N206.5m) to over $3m (N1.24bn) for the purchase of luxury apartments in the high-rise. Most of them signed an agreement to pay the balance over a period of 48 months.
5. Fourscore Homes Limited CEO, Femi Osibona, was in the building when it collapsed. Lagos authorities have confirmed him dead and recovered his remains.
6. Osibona used to sell shoes to the affluent but later became an accomplished real estate developer. He ventured into real estate many years ago and was the first African to build a seven-storey building in the United Kingdom. He has also developed several properties elsewhere in Europe, the United States of America and South Africa. The 360 Degree Towers was not his first real estate project. Osibona was also an evangelist.
7. Over 100 people were in the building when it collapsed, an eyewitness told Aljazeera. At least 48 persons have, so far, been confirmed dead.
8. Many of those affected in the fatal collapse were construction workers from Mowe and Ibafo in Ogun State, a source independently told GoldMyne TV.
9. At least 15 persons have been rescued alive from the rubble.
10. The general manager of the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), Gbolahan Oki, has been suspended over his agency’s handling of the circumstances leading up to the tragedy.
11. Deputy governor Obafemi Hamzat disagreed with Oki that Fourscore Homes Limited got a permit to erect 15 floors but flouted it to build 21 instead. Hamzat said the permit covered 21 floors but that the building was sealed for four months after issues were detected.
12. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu cut short his trip to a G20 summit in Rome, Italy, to oversee post-disaster efforts.
13. Sanwo-Olu said that survivors and family members of those who died in the Ikoyi building collapse would be compensated. The government would also bear the costs of medical treatment and burials.
14. The governor has ordered an independent probe into the building collapse. A six-man panel set up to investigate the matter was given 30 days to submit its report which Sanwo-Olu said would be made public.
15. The Lagos State Government is carrying out autopsies on the bodies recovered from the site. Sanwo-Olu said this would come in handy in the eventuality of a criminal probe into the tragedy. DNA tests are also being carried out to allow families to identify missing relatives.
