It has been three weeks since a building collapsed at the Oduigbo section of Ochanja Market in the Onitsha South Local Government Area of Anambra State, but the state government has not found the private developer in charge of the construction, FIJ can report.

Channels Television reported that the collapse claimed five lives while 26 others were injured. The fight for justice by the families of the people who lost their lives to the collapse may not be won anytime soon, as the state government has yet to bring the perpetrators to book.

When Chukwuma Soludo, the Governor of Anambra State, visited the collapse scene, he vowed to find the private developer and make him face the wrath of the law.

This vow, however, has been left unfulfilled. Since this incident, there has been an exchange of blame between the governor and other state executive council members.

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The governor alleged he was sidelined when the construction’s memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed.

According to him, the MoU was signed without his knowledge. While inspecting the collapse, he announced that he had instructed developers and contractors not to erect shops in any market in the state without his signature and the approval of the state’s physical planning board.

FIJ contacted the Anambra State Government to inquire if there had been any development since the incident, but there was no positive response from them, as this reporter was referred to the Anambra State Physical Planning Board.

This reporter then contacted some members of the physical planning board’s management team, but there was no positive response.

When contacted, Obidile Jude Nnanugo, the Sr. Town Planning, Development Control Department Officer, told FIJ that the developer might have gone into hiding and the board had no information about the arrest of the contractor.

“The Anambra State Physical Planning Board will update you when they have it, but I doubt if there is such information now. The developer or the engineer must have gone into hiding,” he told FIJ.

FIJ also contacted Okolonji Okechukwu Anthony, the board’s public relations officer, but he said he was not in any capacity to respond.

Nnachor Stella, the Executive Secretary of the Anambra State Physical Planning Board representing Onitsha South, was also contacted. She told FIJ she knew nothing about the building.

“I don’t know anything about the building collapse. I just heard that the building collapsed,” she told FIJ.

Anambra State seems to be in a silent war with private developers flouting the directives of the state’s physical planning board.

On Sunday, a five-storey building under construction also collapsed in Onitsha. Chike Mmaduekwe, Chairman of the Anambra State Physical Planning Board, told The PUNCH that the construction, which was approved by the board, was intended to be a three-storey building but the developer flouted the rules and went ahead to erect a five-storey building.