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Many persons were on Saturday injured as the roof of an event centre used for a burial reception collapsed at Ijero Ekiti in the Ijero Local Government Area of Ekiti State.
It was gathered that the affected persons sustained the injuries when the guests were rushing out of the building, causing a stampede.
Six of the guests who sustained serious injuries were reportedly rushed to hospital for medical attention.
The scene of the building was littered with food, broken bottles, shoes, male caps and wigs shortly after the incident.
The state governor, Mr Biodun Oyebanji, who on Sunday sympathised with the injured guests, expressed joy that no life was lost in the incident.
Oyebanji, represented by the deputy governor, Monisade Afuye, who visited the site of the building collapse and the Ijero General Hospital where some victims were receiving treatments, described the incident as disturbing.
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He said,
“We thank God that no life was lost. But as a responsible government, we won’t wait until people die before taking actions that can safeguard their lives. That is why it is most expedient that all government agencies must be responsive to their duties all the time.
“Let me sympathise with the victims of this devastating incident. Nobody prays for bad things to happen, but we need to be proactive in preventing occurrences of this nature, rather than being retroactive.
“I know that if the building had been thoroughly supervised and certified fit at every stage of the erection, this incident could have been averted.
“It is just normal and procedural that all public buildings should be monitored and that they are built to specifications and with standard materials used because the common feature associated with building collapse now is for contractors to use substandard products.”
The Permanent Secretary, Ekiti State Emergency Management Agency, Mr Olajide Borode, who was on the entourage, said men of Fire Services were immediately deployed for rescue operation as soon as he received a distressed call.
“The Ekiti State Bureau of Special Project will be here to do an integrity test on the building to ascertain whether it can be salvaged or be demolished,” Borode said.
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