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Collapsed synagogue building had faulty foundation -engineer


 
The collapsed building at Synagogue Church of All Nations in Lagos

The Lagos coroner, Magistrate O.A. Komolafe, probing the cause of death of the 116 persons that died in the September 12 Synagogue building collapse, was on Wednesday told that a faulty foundation was responsible for the collapse of the building wherein the victims lost their lives.

A consultant to the Lagos State Material Testing Agency, Saheed Ariyori, made the submission when he appeared as a witness at the ongoing inquest which began on October 13, 2014.

Ariyori, who addressed himself as a structural engineer, stated emphatically that investigations revealed that the foundation of the collapsed building was grossly inadequate to withstand the structural load placed on it.
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The witness testified that he was a member of the team of structural and geo-technical engineers that carried out a Structural Integrity Test on the building after it collapsed.

While being led in evidence by the counsel for Lagos State Government, Mr. Akingbolahan Adeniran, Ariyori explained that days after the collapse of the building, his team visited the site and took measurement of the foundation bases as well as relevant samples of the building materials for laboratory test.

He said though the Synagogue Church Of All Nations did not oblige his team with the design of the building, they were, however, able to determine the design through simulation.

Ariyori said based on all the tests conducted and the calculations made by his team, it was discovered that the building failed owing to inadequate and wrong choice of foundation.

“The minimum base that will be required should have been 4.5 metres by 4.5 metres but what we had there was 2.2 metres by 2.2 metres.

“It was a wrong choice of foundation base. The foundation should have been continuous base and not a pad as was used in the construction,” Ariyori submitted.

Ariyori’s testimony came in sharp contrast to that of the SCOAN supervising structural engineer, Oladele Ogundeji, who eliminated faulty foundation as a possible cause of the collapse.

Ogundeji, in his testimony, had stated emphatically that anybody who suggested that inadequate foundation was responsible for the collapse could not have possibly had anything to do with building.

Following Ariyori’s testimony on Wednesday, the counsel for SCOAN, Mr. Olalekan Ojo, said he needed time to consult with the church’s engineer to be able to adequately cross-examine Ariyori.

Ojo, therefore, urged the coroner to grant him a short adjournment for this purpose.

Komolafe consequently adjourned till Friday, March 6, for Ariyori to be cross-examined while he scheduled a visit to the site of the collapsed building for March 5.

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