Plateau Assembly promises new laws to address building collapses

The Plateau State House of Assembly has promised to make new laws that would address the menace of building collapse in the state.

The state government confirmed 22 deaths and 154 injuries at the Saint Academy, Jos school building collapse that took place on Friday morning.

NAN reports that the Assembly Speaker, Gabriel Dewan, stated this when he led lawmakers to the scene and the hospitals, where the injured were receiving treatment.

Dewan, who spoke through the House Committee Chairman on Information, Mr Mathew Kwarpo, stated that there would be serious legislation concerning buildings in the state.

According to the speaker, a committee would be set up to liaise with relevant professionals, especially the Nigerian Institute of Builders, to conduct integrity tests on most of the buildings in the state.

He said the move was not meant to witch-hunt anybody but to avoid ugly incidents like the school building collapse.

“It is quite unfortunate what we have observed here.

“We are led by the Speaker, Gabriel Dewan, who was on a national assignment on behalf of the state but had to cut short because of the sad incident.

“We are here with the committee that has oversight when it comes to the issue of buildings and housing. The Education Committee Chairman is here with us, alongside other fellow lawmakers.

“As representatives of the Plateau people, we are here to see what happened, and we have seen that the situation is very bad.

“There are preliminary investigations that are ongoing to ascertain what led to the building’s collapse. The result of the investigation would help us make laws to prevent such ugly occurrences in the future,” he said.