Lagos State government says the developer ignored a 'Stop Work' order

Another building under construction "partially" collapsed in the Apapa area of Lagos on Sunday.

The news comes barely two weeks after a seven-storey building under construction collapsed leaving one dead in the Banana Island area of the state.

Mukaila Sanusi, spokesperson of the Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, said in the latest incident that the developer ignored an instruction from the regulatory agency to halt construction.

No casualty has been recorded so far, the government said.

'Contravention'

"The Lagos State Government Sunday said that a three-floor building under construction that partially collapsed on Ladipo Oluwole Street, Apapa ignored the stop work and seal up orders of the Lagos State Building Control Agency, LASBCA and continued construction behind the scene," the statement reads.

"The collapse incident, which was flagged on the physical planning incident management platform on Sunday evening, triggered immediate preliminary enquiries that showed that officers of the state Building Control Agency had issued a number of contravention notices, stop work and seal up orders which the developer ignored and carried on construction without any recourse, whatsoever, to the authorities."

Mr Sanusi said the construction site has been cordoned off and taken over by its building control agency.

"This particular incident, like similar others, reinforces the government's repeated calls for responsible behaviour on the part of all stakeholders in the built environment," he said.

"Lagos State Government has immediately activated inquiries into the collapse to unravel the minute details and guide appropriate actions."

News of building collapse is quite common in Nigeria's commercial hub. In September, after a seven-storey building collapsed leaving six people trapped, a government official said that the developer refused to halt construction after the site was "sealed three times."