DMGS BUILDING COLLAPSE: COREN SETS UP INVESTIGATIVE PANEL

REPORTER: OBY ARINZE

A 10-man Investigative Panel to unravel the true cause of the collapsed five storey building in Onitsha, Anambra State has been set up.

The Chairman, Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, (COREN), Mr. Victor Meju, made this known while speaking with journalists on Friday in Onitsha.

Mr. Meju noted that the 10-man Panel of Enquiry would be headed by the Dean of Faculty of Engineering, Federal College of Education (Technical), Umunze, Mr Cyril Ezeagu,
with other prominent professionals as members.

He assured that panel hearing was going to be made public.

According to Mr Meju, the Panel has a mandate to invite some privileged persons in addition to others that may be required to unravel the truth.

These include, the building committee, the man who laid the foundation but was later relieved of his job and Mr. Chukwuemeka Ugwuoke, who was later invited to continue with the job.

The COREN Chairman pointed out that he had a picture of the collapsed five-storey building, where the second and third floors had cracks.

This he said showed that the job was not done by an engineer because of inconsistencies noticed.

He noted that a white paper would be presented to the Governor of Anambra State, Professor Chukwuma Soludo on the cause of the building collapse.

EDITED BY CHUKWUBUIKE MADU