Centre for Children’s Health Education Orientation and Protection, CEE-HOPE, has called for immediate investigation and dispensation of adequate punishment to those involved in the Lagos School Building collapse which led to the loss of lives.
In a press release by the Executive Director, CEE-HOPE Nigeria, Betty Abah, she noted that stringent punishment must be dispensed on violators of building codes and regulations that led to the avoidable loss of lives.
Abah said the Lagos State government could be partly blamed for the incident because it has failed to punish violators in previous times.
Abah explained that “A society is only taken seriously when there is adherent to set rules and regulations especially when it concerns safety of the most vulnerable, in this case children. people are encouraged to commit crimes when there are no adequate punishment from authorities to serve as deterrence.
“Over the years, Lagos has remained the epicenter of collapsed buildings in Nigeria owing to the use of sub-standard building materials or persons retaining old, decrepit and defective structures inspite of official evacuation warnings, and with all the attendant deaths of innocent persons (building site workers, tenants etc) yet there has never been any clear stand by the government to punish the defaulters other than stimulated media trials that fizzle with time.”