At least seven individuals lost their lives following the collapse of a building on the outskirts of Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, over the weekend, according to police reports on Monday.
The incident occurred in the Sabon-Lugbe neighborhood, where the structure had already been partially demolished. Authorities noted that scavengers searching for scrap metal further weakened the building’s integrity. Police spokeswoman Josephine Adeh confirmed that five people were rescued from the debris on Sunday.
Building collapses are alarmingly frequent in Nigeria, with more than a dozen incidents reported in the last two years. Authorities attribute these tragedies to the inadequate enforcement of building safety regulations and poor maintenance practices.
Between January and July of this year, Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, experienced 22 building collapses, as reported by the Council for Engineering Regulation in Nigeria. In a particularly devastating incident in July, a two-story school in Plateau State collapsed, resulting in the deaths of 22 students, many of whom were aged 15 or younger.