The Anambra State Government has constituted an investigation panel to determine the cause of the collapse of a private student hostel near the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, which has claimed at least two lives, with some occupants still unaccounted for.

The Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Chijioke Ojukwu, disclosed this on Tuesday while speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief.

According to Ojukwu, the panel comprises presidents and secretaries of professional bodies in the building industry in Anambra State, including engineers, architects, builders, town planners, officials of the Ministry of Physical Planning, and representatives of the Anambra State Materials Testing Laboratory.

He said the panel’s primary responsibility is to establish the exact cause of the collapse and prevent speculation surrounding the incident.

“The core of their mandate will be to investigate the root cause of the collapse of the building so we wouldn’t be speculating,” he said.

The commissioner added that the investigation would also cover other buildings in the vicinity after residents provided intelligence on structures suspected to have similar defects.

“Since the incident, members of the public have been sending in actionable intelligence pointing to other buildings which they suspect may suffer the same defect. Sequel to that, we have constituted an investigation panel populated by chairmen and secretaries of all the professional bodies in the building industry.

“We will extend the scope of the investigation to other buildings within the proximity of the collapsed structure, including those we have received intelligence about,” he added.

Ojukwu said the government would ensure that anyone found culpable in the collapse faces prosecution.

“We will also be prosecuting anybody indicted as having taken part in this unfortunate incident. We will equally recommend that the state revokes, henceforth, any land housing a building that collapses within the state,” he said.

According to him, such measures would send a strong message that negligence and disregard for building regulations would no longer be tolerated in Anambra.

The commissioner blamed the management of the hostel for allegedly prioritising profit over the safety of residents, revealing that preliminary findings indicated that the building’s structural defects were known before the collapse.

“We understand from our preliminary investigations that the building had some structural defects to the knowledge of the management, but unfortunately the management placed pecuniary interest above the safety of the occupants.

“A reasonable course of action would have been to evacuate the building and notify the authorities for it to be pulled down. Instead, the management continued to accommodate tenants and collect rent from them,” he said.

Ojukwu further disclosed that the state government would carry out comprehensive structural integrity tests on buildings in the area, warning that any structure found to be unsafe would be demolished.

He confirmed that two bodies had so far been recovered from the rubble but noted that there were fears that more victims could still be trapped, as not all occupants of the building had been accounted for.

Ojukwu said authorities were yet to establish the identity of the building owner, as occupants told investigators they had only dealt with the hostel’s management.

He revealed that efforts to reach the management since the collapse had been unsuccessful, prompting the government to involve security agencies.

“From what we know, occupants of the building said they have only been dealing with the management of the building and we have gotten the details and phone numbers. We understand that since the incident, the phone numbers of the management have not been going through. We have forwarded details of their contacts to the police authorities,” he said.

The commissioner added that the state government is working closely with the police to track down those responsible and ensure that anyone found culpable is brought to justice.

The collapsed structure, identified as Elite Five Star Lodge, reportedly caved in late Sunday night near Tonimas Filling Station in the Oko Polytechnic community.

The incident triggered panic among students and residents, with cries for help reportedly heard from beneath the debris.

Emergency responders, including personnel of the Anambra State Police Command, Anambra State Fire Service, Anambra State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), and other security agencies, were deployed to the scene and have continued rescue operations. (Channels)

Update news