Harboursandport.com: Abuja - The Director-General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria, Mallam Farouk Salim has offered his condolence to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the people of Lagos State on the unfortunate high-rise building collapse at Ikoyi and the attend loss of lives.
A statement from Abuja signed by Deputy Director, Public Relations, Bola
Fashina, noted that Salim described the incident as avoidable and one collapse
too many.
He commended the Lagos State Government for setting up a panel of
inquiry to unravel the root cause of the collapse and offered his organisation's
technical support in view of its mandate and abundance of competence in such
investigation.
Mallam Salim pointed out that Section 5 (1) b of the SON Act No. 14 of
2015 charges the organisation to "Undertake investigation as necessary into the
quality of facilities, systems, services, materials, and products, whether
imported or manufactured in Nigeria".
He also pointed at Section 5 (2) of the Act which states that "For purposes
of uniformity of Standards in Nigeria, all Regulatory Agencies or Organisations
dealing with matters pertaining to or related to Standards shall do so in
collaboration with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria".
He quoted Part IX (48) of the Miscellaneous Provisions in the SON Act
thus "In
every government procurement, where compliance with standards is a requirement,
no payment for execution for such contract shall be made unless compliance to
the relevant standards have been verified by the Standards Organisation of
Nigeria".
According to the SON Chief Executive, SON Officials had visited the site
to commence investigation by taking samples of iron rods, concrete mix etc. for
Laboratory tests and analysis.
Salim advocated strong consequences for all standards
infractions, stressing that it is necessary to promote voluntary
compliance in Nigeria as in other parts of the World.
The SON DG, also commiserated with the families of the dead and injured
and called on all Nigerians, particularly authorities responsible for approvals
and regulations to make adherence to approved Standards the watchword in
the discharge of their duties.
Salim stated that SON requires the continuous support and collaboration
of all Nigerians, other agencies and professional organisations to deliver on
its mandate to the Nation.
He concluded that SON is currently developing new procedures in line
with the Act establishing it and in collaboration with other relevant bodies to
verify that all materials used in major construction projects across the
country meet the required standards.
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