Opinion
Lagos collapsed building: That this house may not fall
Many atimes, Providence speaks to human beings in anecdotes. Unfortunately, man is too blind to even behold the foot of his nose; too lost in pursuit of earthly existential scrambles that the lessons of these stories are most times lost on him. Traditional Africa located the power in relating life experiences, as well as the experiences of living and non-living beings, especially those of animals, to the life of existing man. For centuries, not only did humanity learn to live by minding the landmines that consumed its recent and ancient ancestors, it also fashioned its life therefrom.
The holy writs are filled with anecdotal examples of lives lived that ended in perdition and ones lived in exemplary manner that are worthy of being copied. This is the power behind folktales, dreams and historical renditions. Relation of life experiences to occurrences that have happened could even be said to be the philosophy behind the doctrine of stare decisis in law. This doctrine arose out of the need for legal continuity, for the sake of certainty. Inherited from the English common law, in the early 18th century, English courts gave qualified obligation to judges to abide by past decisions and established rules made by former precedents whenever same points and same issues came forth for adjudications.
For a whole one week now, Nigeria has been thrown into mourning. Calamities have befallen Nigeria from all fronts before now but the calamity this time around came from the western flank; from the sudden collapse of a 21-storey Gerrard, Ikoyi, Lagos terrace building belonging to Femi Osibona, owner of Fourscore Limited. As at the time of writing this, 40 people had been pulled out of the debris of the collapse, including the remains of the Property Developer Osibona himself, his friends and workers on site.
Recriminations, blame trading and tar-brushings that bear imprimatur of politics are being spurned. The calamity has been dimensioned severally, from the architectural, engineering, spiritual to the human angles, The question to ask in all these is, could the Lagos 21-stoey terrace building collapse be speaking to a greater rot within, and a greater calamity to come that bespatter our country, which could happen unless Nigeria takes heed?
Put differently, could the collapse actually be a metaphor for understanding a collapse or a likely collapse of Nigeria unless we remedy our national structure? Can we dimension the cracks in Nigeria, taking into consideration the dimensioned fractures that eventually led to the collapse of the 21-storey Ikoyi building, with a view to averting her fall?
Osibona, from all that have so far been said about him, had a good intention for himself as an entrepreneur and a projected, even if ostensible, good intention for the property development world as at the time he conceived of the idea of the Ikoyi terrace building. While many have spoken of how Osibona transitioned from being a shoe, clothes seller in the United Kingdom, into establishing Fourscore Limited, his capacity to be able to build the high rise building cannot be questioned. Is it the same for his capability?
It may be a throwback to that maxim that says the road to hell is paved with a swathe of good intentions. There have been so many good-intentioned projects and projections that have ended in calamitous ruins. While metaphysicists talk about the unseen dimensions of human engagements, as Africans, we will be engaging in a barren venture if we take the route trodden by the Austrian British philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein, who maintained that metaphysical matters are nonsensical. For us as Africans, the unseen dictates the template of the seen. In our world, the fly dancing on the river has a drummer hidden from vision, the metaphysics of its being. So, could the crash and collapse of that edifice have had an eidetic significance, far more than the physical lacuna that scientists and professionals have identified as the likely cause of the collapse?
Whatever is the foundational, structural or super-structural errors that led to the collapse of the Ikoyi building can be metaphorized as Nigeria. The 1914 structural and foundational error behind virtually all ills plaguing Nigeria has been underscored severally. While the foundational colonial error of bumping together like and unlike entities into a questionable whole has been identified as a major cause of the debilitating instability in Nigeria today, over a century after, super-structural errors that came thereafter have compounded the ills that plague her.
German jurist, Friedrich Karl von Savigny of the Historical school of thought in jurisprudence, had espoused what he called the volkgeist, the national spirit, as the glue that cements and binds a people together, the absence of which can mar a jurisprudential understanding of a people’s law. In the colonial shell bequeathed to a post-colonial Nigeria, there is a clear absence of the Savigny volkgeist and manifesting in a Nigeria that is an alien and strange contraption that the people have to encounter as a vague reality. This has led to so many crises, ranging from the military putschs of 1966, the pogrom in the north, a fratricidal war, the incidence of military rule, the monumental heists that have been inflicted on Nigeria ever since and the economic stasis, as well as the security challenges that the country is facing today.
There have been so many posthumous accounts of the person of Osibona, the Fourscore property owner. Each of the accounts claimed that he never cut corners and was merely ambitious. However, there have also been other claims to the effect that the initial design of the building was eight floors and that the foundation was not designed to shoulder an edifice of that magnitude.
There was also a viral video of men of the Lagos structural enforcement outfit which stormed the Ikoyi property to bring him to book but from whose hooks he freed himself after pressing the usual Nigerian button. This is a euphemism for graft, bribery and the typical Nigerian big-man-ism. Those who claim that in the button pressed by Osibona which secured him freedom from this harassment could be found a nexus between him and those who he allegedly fronted for didn’t get the dice right. In Nigeria, you do not need to be a surrogate of a super big man to be able to secure freedom from the law. You only need to possess the right stack of cash that can drive the greed of the system and law.
The Nigerian postcolonial burden has ensured that Nigeria is a land of cutting corners. Drugs are fake, human beings are fake, promises are dross, mosques are fake and the pulpit is suffering from a fakery of cataclysmic proportion. When a man approaches you and announces that he is Pastor or Imam, flee. Did you listen to a viral video of Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo sacralizing Osibona and his pursuits? With this, it becomes very difficult to draw a line between devilish, fast-tempoed aspirations and Godly aspirations. By the way, how come that in those moments of laying hands on Osibona to “conquer territories,” Ashimolowo didn’t decipher that a man running at such supersonic speed to conquer property developments in continents could be short-changing the system? Did Ashimolowo caution against speedy sprint of this protégé of his?
Because the putting together of Nigeria lacks the metaphysical or the spiritual element, it then goes without saying that she lacks a major cohesive ingredient that holds a people together in their time of travails. There is no common goal that the people of Nigeria are pursuing as they lack what in German is called Wéltanschauung, a worldview. It symptomizes the collection of values, attitudes, narratives and expectations of the world in which a people are born and which shape them, their thoughts and actions. It is reason why there are variations in the ethos, ethics, religion, philosophy and beliefs of the people of Nigeria.
Many structural engineers have queried the substructure of the land that the 21-storey building was erected. When narratives from the top, especially from those who hold the rein of power today, claim that Nigeria’s unity is non-negotiable, they sound extremely ridiculous like a sub-structural wrong that perhaps the builders of the Ikoyi property noticed but which they believed was immaterial and that a magnificent structure erected on it will cure the wrongs.
Trust Nigerians with their multifaceted prognoses at death, we have been variously told that there was a compromise of quality and standard in the building of that fallen edifice. For instance, a Prowess Engineering Limited, a company that allegedly began the construction of the collapsed building, reportedly warned the late Osibona of the inherent dangers in circumventing process and standard in its construction. In a letter that instantly went viral, the company was said to have withdrawn its services on grounds that there was variation, both in the vision of the company, the late owner’s and the building project.
Likewise in Nigeria. Nation-building is a product of shared vision and is a collective enterprise. The moment there is no Fe of ownership of a national project and there is an absence of a consensus of ideas, cracks begin to appear. In a Nigeria where some people are perceived as lords while others are serfs, where some nationalities are kings and others their servants, the end product is always a disaster.
The administration of Nigeria, especially from 1966 till date, has yielded so many contradictions and ambiguities. Largely due to the selfish interests of the colonizers which were projected in the foundational administration of Nigeria, ethnic groups were thus balkanized as ethnicities and not as nations. This has made issues to be viewed from their ethnic prism and ethnicity used as a negative construct. Any policy, projects, appointments, infrastructure and dividends of governance is perceived and apprehended from the vantage point of ethnicity. This crack has further become more noticeable since 2015 when Mephistopheles gifted Nigeria a president who has offhandedly escalated the importance of where one comes from in Nigeria, higher than what one has to contribute to Nigeria.
Today, apart from all the challenges of making Nigeria a nation-state, Nigeria has become a recipient of dross structural padding that cannot endure. No one administers Nigeria from the position of wishing Nigeria to be great but as a honey-pot from where they could take a lick and bite. There is no synchronization in the expectations, contributions and manifestations of all the ethnic groups of Nigeria. Everybody is merely dancing to the rhythm of their own tunes and beats. The absence of unanimity of purpose has hugely stalled the possibility of nation building.
Thus, impunity is ten a dime on Nigerian streets. From the roads, offices, government, individuals and everybody in Nigeria, impunity has become the necklace we fiendishly advertise. If you come in contact with the disorder on the streets of Nigeria, you do not need to read Karl Maier’s This House Has Fallen to be able to decipher that Nigeria is going the Ikoyi 21-storey building way gradually.
Ostensibly, the fallen Ikoyi building didn’t acquire the liability of a fall overnight. It began to crack within unnoticeably a long time ago. As they say, that Rome was not built in a day, it is obvious that Rome was also not destroyed in a day. That great empire began to stink from within and the crumble began gradually. It is same with a Nigeria that we are cobbling together with great efforts and brinkmanship, without bothering to repair the wonky foundation upon which she was erected.
There are several lessons Nigeria can learn from the Ikoyi fallen high rise building. Nigeria big but fragile and its fragility has prodded many theorists to point at its probable fall. Nigeria’s collapse may not be as structural as we saw in the Ikoyi building’s collapse but the country is getting to a point where its existence is hugely threatened.
If Osibona was told of the fragility of the structure he was putting together yet stewed dangerously in his own broth of self-delusion of the strength of his magnificent structure, he would be in the same parlour with the rulers of Nigeria who believe that some metaphysical glue that has kept Nigeria from falling, right from the civil war period, would always be available to make Nigeria withstand whatever push and shove she gets from as a result of her wonky foundation. It is not too late for Nigerian rulers to avoid a calamity of the hue of Ikoyi if they come down from their high horses, accept that there are structural errors that needed to be corrected urgently about Nigeria and do that immediately.
In a world that is increasingly dependent on sound financial expertise and innovative management practices, illuminating figures are crucial for the academic and professional growth of a nation. One such figure is Dr. Akinde Mukail Aremu, the esteemed Rector of the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro in Ogun State. With an impressive academic background and a commitment to excellence in education, Dr. Akinde is not just shaping the minds of future financial leaders; he is also positioning the institution at the forefront of Nigeria’s educational landscape.
A Legacy of Academic Excellence
Dr. Akinde’s academic journey is nothing short of remarkable. With multiple degrees—a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Economics, a Master’s in Finance, and a PhD in Finance—his expertise spans across vital fields like Financial Management, Business Finance, and Financial Accounting. His position as the Chief Lecturer in the School of Management Studies at the Federal Polytechnic is a testament to his commitment and passion for education. Dr. Akinde’s rich academic fabric is woven with numerous publications in reputable journals, exploring key issues from stock market performance to the complexities of financial reporting standards in Nigeria.
His research interests primarily lie in finance and financial analyses, where he tirelessly seeks to address pertinent economic questions, providing insights that resonate deeply within the Nigerian financial landscape. His studies not only contribute to academic discourse but also guide policy-making in the financial realm, fostering a better understanding of economic development in Nigeria.
Championing Innovative Pedagogy
As a dedicated educator, Dr. Akinde has consistently advocated for modern pedagogical methods that inspire creativity and critical thinking among students. His teaching areas encompass crucial subjects that equip students with the financial acumen needed in today’s dynamic economic environment. By incorporating practical examples and real-life scenarios into his curriculum, he ensures that students are not just passive recipients of knowledge but active participants in their learning journey. His hands-on approach is fostering a generation of finance professionals ready to tackle the challenges of the industry head-on.
Elevating the Institution to New Heights
Under Dr. Akinde’s leadership, the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, is experiencing a renaissance. His vision for the institution is clear: to provide quality education that meets the benchmark of global standards. His strategic initiatives have led to the establishment of innovative programs that align with market needs, ensuring that graduates are not only employable but also ready to lead. His emphasis on human capital investment and sustainable economic strategies positions the institution as a beacon of hope for Nigeria’s future.
Furthermore, Dr. Akinde’s efforts extend beyond the classroom. His participation in international conferences and collaboration with academic institutions worldwide has spotlighted the Federal Polytechnic on a global stage. By fostering partnerships and exchanging knowledge with global thought leaders, he is silencing the cynics and proving that Nigerian institutions can compete on an international level.
A Voice for Change and Development
Beyond academia, Dr. Akinde is a vocal advocate for fiscal responsibility and policy reform in Nigeria. His extensive research publications reflect a commitment to dissecting the intricacies of Nigeria’s financial landscape, addressing critical issues ranging from foreign direct investment to the implications of tourism development on economic growth. His work sheds light on the pivotal role that education and informed fiscal practices play in Nigeria’s quest for economic revival.
Dr. Akinde understands that his role transcends academia; he is a mentor, an innovator, and a change-maker. His unwavering dedication to equipping the next generation of leaders with the skills and knowledge they need to thrive in an increasingly complex world is evident in every initiative he undertakes.
In conclusion, Dr. Akinde Mukail Aremu’s leadership at the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro is redefining the educational landscape of Nigeria. His commitment to academic excellence, innovative pedagogy, and social responsibility serves as an inspiration for students and educators alike. As he continues to shape the future of financial education in Nigeria, there is little doubt that Dr. Akinde is not just preparing students for jobs—he is preparing them to become the architects of the nation’s economic future. In a rapidly evolving global economy, his vision and leadership will undoubtedly leave an indelible mark on the educational sector and beyond.
Former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, is a restless and courageous politician. However, he ought to have learned political patience from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who spent years building a viable political alternative to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) when its stalwarts boasted that they would rule Nigeria for 64 years.
Cleverly, Tinubu abandoned the Alliance for Democracy (AD) to establish another political platform, the Action Congress (AC), which later metamorphosed into the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
In collaboration with other political groups—including the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and some elements of the PDP—the All Progressives Congress (APC) was born, with El-Rufai as one of its foundation members. Ultimately, the APC wrestled power from the PDP, truncating its 64-year dominance plan.
For El-Rufai to abandon the APC now is nothing short of political suicide, as Tinubu is strategically positioned to secure a second term with an array of both seen and unseen political foot soldiers.
The Social Democratic Party (SDP), as a political entity, effectively died with the late Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola. Any attempt to resurrect it is an exercise in futility.
For the sake of argument, let’s consider a hypothetical scenario: Suppose another southern politician is fielded in 2027 and wins the election. Even if he signs an agreement to serve only one term, political realities could shift, and he may seek another four years.
If anyone doubts this, they should ask former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan. The simple implication of this is that President Tinubu remains the best candidate for northern politicians seeking a power shift back to the North in 2031—at which point El-Rufai could have been one of the credible northern contenders for the presidency.
When Ebenezer Babatope (Ebino Topsy), a staunch Awoist, chose to serve in General Sani Abacha’s regime, he later reflected on his decision, saying: “I have eaten the forbidden fruit, and it will haunt me till the end of my life.”
By abandoning the APC for another political party, El-Rufai has also eaten the forbidden fruit. Only time will tell if it will haunt him or not.
However, for some of the political leaders already contacted from the South West, supporting any party against President Tinubu would be akin to Judas Iscariot’s betrayal—a reputation no serious South West politician would want to bear.
El-Rufai’s departure from the APC to SDP is nothing short of a suicidal political move, reminiscent of Harakiri.
Prof. Adeniyi Olowofela, a former Oyo State Commissioner for Education, Science, and Technology and the Commissioner representing Oyo State at the Federal Character Commission (FCC), sent this piece from Abuja, the nation’s capital.
For most of last week, Senate President Godswill Akpabio was in the eye of the storm as his traducer, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who represents Kogi Central, was relentless in getting her voice hear loud and clear.
Though the matter eventually culminated in the suspension of the Kogi senator for six months on Thursday, it is clear that the drama has not ended yet. The whole saga, as we have seen in the last few weeks, smacks many wrongs and few rights. The Senate scored some rights and some wrongs, the same for the Kogi senator. But in apportioning the rights and the wrongs, we have to distinguish between emotions and the rules.
Recall that in July of 2024, Senator Akpabio had compared the conduct of Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan to that of someone in a nightclub. That statement incensed the Kogi Central senator, the womenfolk, and a number of other senators. Days later, Akpabio, having sensed the mood of the Senate, spoke from his chair and said: “I will not intentionally denigrate any woman and always pray the God will uplift women, Distinguished Senator Natasha, I want to apologise to you.” That was expected of him and by that statement, Akpabio brought some calm into the relationship between him and the Kogi senator, but as we are to discover in the last two weeks, still waters do run fast under the surface.
The latest scene of the drama started with what looked like an innocuous development on the Senate floor. The Senate president, in exercise of the power conferred on him by the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the Senate Rule book, made adjustments to the seats in the minority wing of the chamber and relocated Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan. The excuse was that following the defection of some senators from the minority side, seat adjustments had to be effected. That was within Akpabio’s power. Remember that the Senate Rule book does not only empower the Senate president to allocate seats, but he can also change the seats occasionally. So, Akpabio was right with that action. But perhaps Akpoti-Uduaghan, based on family relationships with the Akpabios, expected that she would have been alerted of the impending seat change. And on getting to the floor of the Senate to discover the seat switch, she got alarmed. Was she right to flare up? No, that is the answer. Apart from the powers of the Senate president to change seats allocated to senators, the rule book also says that every senator must speak from the seat allocated. The implication is that anything a senator says outside the allocated seat will not go into the Senate records. The Senate, or any parliament for that matter, is a regulated environment. The Hansards take records of every word and action made on the floor of the chamber. And so, it is incumbent on every senator to follow the rules.
So, on Thursday, February 20, when Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan raised hell over her seat relocation and engaged Senator Akpabio in a shouting match, she was on the wrong side of the Senate Rule book. No Senator is expected to be unruly. In fact, unruly conduct can be summarily punished by the presiding officer. It is important to note that the rules of the Senate treat the occupier of the chair of Senate President like a golden egg. The President of the Senate is the number three citizen in the country, even though he was elected to represent a constituency like his colleagues. He is first among equals, but the numero uno position comes with a lot of difference.
A legislative expert once told me that the Chair of the President of the Senate must be revered at all times and that infractions to the rules are heavily punished unless the offender shows penitence. The rule says the President of the Senate must be heard in silence; Senators must avoid naming (being called out for unruly conduct); and that any situation that compels the President of the Senate to rise up to hit the gavel in trying to restore order could earn the culprit (any named senator) summary dismissal. Those are the powers of the President of the Senate, which Madam Natasha was trying for size. I think it is important that Senators are taken through inductions on the rules and regulations, whether they got in mid-term or at the beginning of the session.
Rules are very key to operations in a big club like the Senate or the House of Representatives. But as we will later discover on this page, the number of years spent on the floor does not necessarily guarantee a clear understanding of the rules.
Well, as we saw it, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan raised hell by protesting the decision of the Senate to relocate her seat. She was out of order, and her colleagues noted the same. With another presiding officer, she could have been suspended right there. But Akpabio didn’t do that. Then, the Kogi Central senator opened another flank, this time, outside of the Senate chamber. She granted an interview to Arise television, claiming that she had been sexually harassed by Akpabio. Here, too, Senator Natasha was on the wrong side of the Senate rules. Yes, she has a right of freedom of speech, but if the right must be meaningfully exercised, she must do so in compliance with the rules of the club she belongs-the Senate. This is expressly so because she is covered by Order 10 of the Senate Rule Book, which permits her to raise issues of privilege without previously notifying the President of the Senate or the presiding officer. The elders and the holy books also say that when you remove the log from the eyes, you show it to the eyes. As a club, the senate detests the washing of its dirty linen in the public. Such conduct led to the suspension of the late Senators Arthur Nzeribe and Joseph Waku, as well as Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, Senator Ali Ndume and even Senator Abdul Ningi in recent past.
Rather than go to the court of public opinion to accuse Akpabio of sexual harassment, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan should have quietly assumed the seat allocated to her, raise her complaints through Order 10 and at the same time tender details of her sexual harassment allegation against Akpabio and seek Senate’s intervention. If she had done that, she would have been on the right side of Senate Rules and had Akpabio by the balls. As much as the Senate rules forbid a senator from submitting a petition he or she personally signed, the Senate does not forbid any lawmaker from raising allegations that affect either their rights or privileges on the floor. Several newspaper editors have been summoned before the Ethics Committee to answer questions of alleged breach of the privilege of senators. I recall that as correspondents in the chamber, senators were always unhappy each time we scooped a story or blow open a report they were about to submit. Such senators didn’t need to write a petition. They would only come to the floor and raise points of order on privilege. Senator Akpoti- Uduaghan failed to do that.
But the conduct of the Senate President and some of the principal officers on Wednesday, March 5, left so much to be desired of the Senate. I was shocked to see Senator Akpabio rule Senator Natasha in order; he also ruled Senator Mohammed Monguno in order as well as Senator Opeyemi Bamidele. How do you have three right rulings on one issue? First, he allowed Senator Natasha to lay a defective petition on the Senate table. That’s expressly out of order. In the days of Senate Presidents David Mark, Bukola Saraki, and Ahmad Lawan, we saw how such scenes were handled. A David Mark would simply ask the senator, ‘Distinguished Senator, please open to Order 40(4) and read’. By the time the senator finished reading the order and seeing the order had negatived his or her motion, he would only be begging to withdraw that motion. That was not the case with Akpabio. And to make matters worse, the clerks at the table were also looking lost. They could not guide the presiding officer in any way. That tells a bit about human resource capacity in the assembly. But then the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele and the Chief Whip, Mohammed Monguno, who have spent quite a long time in the National Assembly, should know better. Their interventions did more damage to Akpabio’s Senate. Once the President of the Senate had ruled Senator Natasha in order to submit a petition she personally signed, (against the rules of the Senate which forbids such), and the Kogi Central senator had approached the chair and laid the petition on the table, the matter in a way becomes sub judice, to borrow the language of the law. The Senate Rule Book classifies such an action as “Matters Not open to Debate.” So at that point, the matter was no longer open to debate. Since the gavel has been hit and the action has been taken, no senator has the right to reopen the case. It was wrong of Senator Bamidele and Monguno to immediately start to revisit a closed matter, and that’s illegal. It is wrong for Akpabio to allow it.
I recall an incident in the 6th Senate when President Umaru Yar’Adua was bedridden in Saudi Arabia. Some senators moved a motion, seeking the Senate to constitute a panel to visit Saudi and ascertain the health status of the president. Somehow, when the motion was finally passed on a day, Senator Ike Ekweremadu presided, it turned out that the motion only mandated the Federal Executive Council to do the assignment. The original proponents of the motion were enraged, but they were not allowed to reopen the matter. They had to go into lobbying and eventually secured signatures of two-thirds of the Senate to re-table the matter and that paved the way for the adoption of the famous “Doctrine of Necessity.” That’s how serious the matter should be handled, but it was trivialized by Akpabio, the Senate Leader and Senate Whip. That’s on the wrong side of the rule.
Now that Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan has been suspended, many would say she was being silenced. That is far from the truth. Her suspension was on the basis of what the senate perceived as unruly behavior on the floor. We are yet to hear the details of her sexual harassment allegations, and I believe that she has avenues to ventilate that. Nigerians earnestly await these details, which should be salacious enough to help us cool off some heat.
