A plumber with Joe Faraday, the owner of a projected eight-storey building in Close 102, 1st Avenue, Ocean Parade, Banana Island Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos, has given a reason for the building collapse on Wednesday evening.

The plumber, who asked not to be named, said he once worked with Faraday. He noted that Faraday was famous for employing plumbers, electricians and jackhammers to work on his buildings after completion.

“Joe Faraday owns massive estate construction sites in Banana Island,” he said. “I worked with him. What I know caused the building collapse was the manual labour of plumbers, electricians and jackhammers after the completion of the sites.”

“The best time for these people to work on the sites is when the housing structures are being constructed, and not after. Faraday is usually at the construction sites from time to time unless he travels abroad. If I didn’t work there, I might not know anything about him.”

One of the construction workers who spoke with FIJ warned that the two standing seven-storey structures adjacent to the fallen one had been affected and might also collapse.

Michael Akinpelu, a civil engineer, however, told FIJ on Twitter that the jackhammer only pose a risk to weak structures. A building can be brought down if “the operator mistakenly uses the jackhammer to break a critical structural member, maybe a beam or column”, Akinpelu said.

“Any building that was built to specifications cannot collapse because of the vibrations from a jackhammer. Plumbers and electricians don’t even pose any risk to building.”

FIJ learned that seven persons were rescued from the rubble, one of them hospitalised.