Synagogue Church: Inadequate materials led to building collapse – Witness

A structural engineer, Mr. Oreoluwa Fadayomi, on Thursday, told an Ikeja High Court that the collapsed six-storey guest house owned by the Synagogue Church of all Nation (SCOAN) was caused by structural defects as a result of inadequate use of the required materials.

The prosecution witness made this revelations during the trial of Trustees of SCOAN and the two engineers involved in the construction of the collapsed guest house, which led to the death of about 116 persons, mostly South Africans on September 12, 2014.

The SCOAN Trustees, the two engineers, Messrs Oladele Ogundeji and Akinbela Fatiregun and their companies, Hardrock Construction and Engineering Company and Jandy Trust Limited are standing trial before Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo on 111-count charge for their involvement in the collapsed building.

The 111 count charges proferred against the defendants by the Lagos State Government borders on criminal negligence, manslaughter and failure to obtain building permit.

The witness who is a registered civil engineer of Council of Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) told the that the building did not have rigid strong points preferably at the end of the structure.

He further said that the collapsed building lacked joins, adding that the strong points were also missing in the structure.

Fadayomi, who graduated from the University of Lagos confirmed that, the reinforcement used on the building was lower than what is expected of such robust structure. He added that the bottom reinforcement his team members met at the site of the collapsed building was different from what was in the structural drawing.

“We found out that the beams were slender for the purpose it was meant for, the structure also lacks the basic things needed for the construction of such building,” he said.

While being led in evidence by the lead counsel of the state, Miss T.K. Shitta-Bay, Fadayomi also told the court that, two of the columns were under reinforced and that all the ground columns were slender.

“My lord the investigation, myself and my team members conducted revealed that, the structural system of the collapsed building was inadequate, adding that the design of the building also aided the collapse since what was obtained in the design drawing was different from what we saw at collapsed site.

However, after Fadayomi’s evidence-in-chief, the defence counsel, Chief Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) requested for an adjournment to enable the defence prepare for cross-examination of the witness.

Justice Lawal-Akapo, subsequently adjourned the matter till April 20 for continuation of trial.