Abuja building collapse: Wike orders arrest of owner, revokes land allocation

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has ordered the arrest and prosecution of the owner of the two-storey building that collapsed on Friday in Jikwoyi, Abuja.

Wike, who gave the order after inspecting the site in Abuja, Monday, also announced the revocation of 2,500 square meters of land given to its owner.

The two-story building for a hotel was under construction when it collapsed and injured several workers on Friday.

The minister, who thanked God that there were no casualties in the incident, said that the owner built the building without permission from Development Control.

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He added that despite the development control termination notice, the owner continued construction.

“The first thing to note is that there has been no approval for the construction of this building.

“Because there is no official approval, and no one knows the quality of the materials they used for the construction, the government will immediately take over the plot of land.

“We will then find out from the community what they want the government to build in the public interest.

“The owner and anyone involved will be arrested and prosecuted,” Wike said.

He advised landowners to always follow procedures by obtaining necessary approvals before starting construction of any building.

“We always say that people should go through a simple process – go to the development control department and get approval.

“Tell the department what you want to build, what the quality of the materials is, and then they will oversee you from stage to stage.

“But of course, they will ignore it, and this is the situation we face.

“Sometimes buildings pop up in the early hours of the morning. The simple thing is to go and get approval, so the building inspector knows what you want to do and the quality of materials you want to use,” he advises.

Wike said the FCT Government would not hesitate to demolish any building without permission.