271 building collapse recorded in Nigeria the last 10 years

According to documents from the Building Collapse Prevention Guild, 271 buildings have collapsed in Nigeria over the past ten years. The highest number of fatalities due to building collapse is recorded in Lagos State. The 271 occurrences of buildings’ collapse account for 50% of the total 541 cases that were reported throughout the nation between 1974 and 2022.

As the threat of collapsing structures continues to affects the country's constructed sector, there have been at least 531 fatalities out of the 271 collapses recorded in the past 10 years. A large number of the collapses reported during this period, were attributed to professional ineptitude, including excessive loading, the use of subpar materials, flawed design, bad craftsmanship, and weak or inadequate foundations, according to findings. Considering the 271 collapses reported during the past ten years, 115 cases—or 42.4% of all cases—were reported in Lagos State.

The most terrible and possibly notable incident was the collapse of a part of a multi-story structure inside the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), which resulted in the deaths of more than 80 worshipers and the gravely injured of several others. Foreigners who frequently flocked to the church in quest of miracles used the building as a guest house until it apparently collapsed on September 12, 2014. Different approaches were considered to explain how the structure, which was in the church's New Land section, collapsed.

The Lekki Garden building collapse, on March 8, 2016, is also noteworthy. 35 people were dead in the incident, which happened at Horizon 1, Ikate in the Lekki district of Lagos State, and numerous others were left in severe condition. Investigations conducted in the weeks that followed the incident showed that the construction project lacked the required regulatory approval.

Another tragedy occurred on November 1, 2021, when a high-rise building of luxurious apartments under construction in the Ikoyi neighborhood of Lagos collapsed. At least 45 individuals died beneath the wreckage of the destroyed building.

Kunle Awobodu, former president of the Nigerian Institute of Builders, attributed many instances of building collapse in Lagos State to a lack of design standards. He asserts that many quacks have gained confidence as a result of the regulatory agencies and other relevant government agencies' unwillingness or incapacity to charge and convict those proven accountable for professional incompetence concerning building collapse occurrences.