Buildings Collapse, monthly!

11 die as 3-storey building returned to ground zero in Mushin… Wait a minute. The Government is Corrupt! The police is Corrupt! Lecturers and teachers are Corrupt! Agents are corrupt! Managers are corrupt! Pastors are Corrupt! Civil servants are corrupt! Politicians are Corrupt! They are all brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, friends, colleagues, relatives and rivals but they all steal. Now tell me who is not corrupt? Only people who are closer to money can steal, people who force their way into those region to steal are known as armed robbers. People are quick to point fingers but when you reverse the case, they do even worse.

Government officials embezzle public funds, police extort and accept bribe, lecturers accept stuffs in cash or kind, agents defraud, managers inflate, pastors preach money only for the sake of their pockets, civil servants cant depend on salaries and have to make you pay whatever you can, keep me away from politicians, please. The list is endless. They must feed mouths, they must represent but some innocent people must DIE as a consequence.

When funds are not available, people die, when someone has to pay all he made for the day to corrupt LASTMA officials, someone sleeps hungry, someone is forced to steal, someone can have sex for apples… Though it happens all around the world, the emphasis on material things in Lagos probably makes it one of the worst cities in this regard. Many imported drugs, electronics, fabrics e.t.c. are substandard, why? because people want to make more profit. They simply want you to pay more and get less and short-change you. They don’t care if you die, afterall 140 million (possibly more) other Nigerians will patronize them. We have a few wealthy people and many rich ones, well respected by the media, church, banks, government, Police and the Embassies regardless of how they came about the riches (legal, illegal or ritual means).

Why am I mad today? Time and again, we’ve been confronted with news of lecturers sleeping with ladies for grades, police extorting money from motorists, contractors bribing government officials…. and buildings collapsing. Of all the grave offenses against humanity, I think this is probably the worst. I would rather have you take my money and spare my life. Why should I lose both at shelter point? When I say structures I’m referring to roads, bridges, homes, drainage, schools e.t.c. People just want to cut costs (both the owner and more often, the contractor) by reducing the quantity and quality of Cement, Iron rods and many other building materials. That’s why you see 2 year old roads that look much like some gully erosion in rural areas. All hell is let loose when the rains return and then you see people living the life no right thinking human being would think of.

Is sleeping under the bridge now safer from staying at home? Look around your house, do an inspection, trace those crumbs you sweep away every morning, those holes you patched, those red sands turning cake, cracked walls (pillars worse) exposed foundation, soaked walls, extensive flooding e.t.c. You cannot struggle to feed yourself and your family yet struggle to close your eyes, expecting the walls to give in to pressure from corrupt planners. I think now is the time to fight corruption at all levels. Building plans are approved and buildings are left at the mercy of corrupt people, without quality and safety inspection. Landlords (some have 100 such houses in Lagos alone) immediately contact equally corrupt agents and unsuspecting Lagosians move in, just to either run away at some time after having spent a lot patching things up, or lose their lives sometime later.

It’s time to start making alternative plans to “stay alive” if you wish. Newly completed buildings have crumbled in the past and it won’t be surprising if more buildings start to crumble as the rains eventually descend on coastal Lagos. Listen to your instincts, if you think your home isn’t safe, it definitely will collapse or sink.

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