Lagos Building Collapse: ‘How N50 Saved Me from Death’

For Saka Ismaila, he will never stop being nice in his life, as his kindness saved him from possible death.

Ismaila is one of the artisans that worked at the four-storey building that collapsed on 8, Muri Okunola Street, Victoria Island, Lagos on Monday.

He said while others on the site are working, he went to give a food vendor, who forgot her N50 with him when the building collapsed.

The artisan said though he was broke; he would not just want to spend someone else's money, adding that he was returning to the site when the incident occurred.

No fewer than five corpses were recovered from the collapsed building while 25 others were rescued.

According to an eyewitness, Mr. Adetayo Olaseni: "The building collapsed at about 4:00 pm while construction works were still ongoing which led to pandemonium, as every one scampered for safety.
 
"I heard a loud bang and all I saw was that the entire building had collapsed on the workers. While some escaped unhurt, others were still trapped under the debris. I can't say the number of people here but, I know that they were more than 60 persons working at the site," another eyewitness, Miss Blessing Osundare added.
 
Our correspondents observed that the rescue operation had ended on Tuesday afternoon after the corpse of the architect, identified as Oyedele Oyeleke was recovered by officials.
 
It was gathered that other victims had been recovered in the midnight but the search for Oyeleke continued until about 5.30pm when his body was recovered.
 
An eyewitness told our correspondent that it was not quite long when Oyeleke entered before the building caved in.
 
However, Imaila said: "I will never stop doing good in my life. I went to and give the Amala seller her money and as I was rushing back to the site, it collapsed. The woman sold food for me but forgot to collect her money, so I ran after her to give it to her.
 
"Although, i don't have enough money on me, i don't like to cheat people. It is against my belief. If not for that, I might have died too."
 
While lamenting the death of others, he described the incident as sorrowful.

General Manager of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, said the rescue officials worked through the night, adding that his men had to relocate from the Great Nigeria House fire disaster scene to the scene of the collapsed building to save lives.

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