Nigeria: Disasters - Pitiable Rescue

31 March 2009

THREE major reasons may be responsible for the levity with which governments treat incidents of collapsed buildings - relations of the dead are too poor to seek any legal redress, the owners of the building are too powerful, and the civil servants who issue illegal approvals protect themselves.

Last week's collapse of a four-storey structure in Idi Araba, Lagos, with loss of 11 lives merely lengthened statistics of collapsed buildings. Hardly a week passes without a new case being reported, especially in our urban areas.

...

AllAfrica publishes around 400 reports a day from more than 100 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.