Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has suspended Adenike Adekanbi, the Lagos State Infrastructure and Asset Management Agency (LASIAMA) general manager, for not properly overseeing the agency’s activities.
The suspension followed the death of a medical doctor, Vwaere Diaso, due to an elevator collapse at the Lagos General Hospital, Odan, on August 1.
Olumide Sogunle, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Information and Strategy, said in a statement on Sunday that the government also ordered that the facility managers be sacked and the firm blacklisted immediately.
The statement said these actions were necessitated by the findings of the panel set up to look into the likely causes, identify persons who might be culpable, and suggest ways of preventing any future occurrence of elevator accidents.
It said for transparency, the panel membership included representatives of the medical guild and six representatives of House Officers.
He said based on the initial findings, the Lagos government has instructed that the facility managers’ operations and line of reporting be restructured to involve the hospital management directly.
According to him, the installation and maintenance contractors have been handed to the police for further investigation and likely prosecution if they are found culpable.
”The police will also investigate anyone else that might have been found to be negligent. Engineers are working to unravel why all the safety devices of the elevator failed at the same time. All our staff are fully insured,” explained the statement. “We have informed our life insurance providers about this incident.”
It added, ”The Lagos Safety Commission has been directed to immediately carry out an audit of all elevators in public offices. This is besides the usual safety arrangements that have always existed.”
The Lagos government revealed that the crashed elevator was installed brand new in 2021.
Elevator experts working with the Lagos Safety Commission had carried out an initial inspection and would remove the elevator for further mechanical examination to determine why the safety features that should prevent this kind of accident did not work, said the statement.
According to him, their findings will determine if there is a case with the elevator installer.
”The Lagos state government would like to, once again, acknowledge with deep regrets the unfortunate elevator accident of Tuesday, August 1, 2023, at the house officer’s residence of the General Hospital, Odan, which resulted in the death of Dr Vwaere Diaso, a vibrant young house officer,” stated the Lagos government. (NAN)