Non-Governmental Organisation, Mrs. Fola Shoetan, has described
as unsatisfactory the approach of the officials of the National
Emergency Management Agency and the Lagos State Emergency
Management Agency to the September 12 Synagogue Church Of
All Nation’s building collapse.
Shoetan called for better training and re-orientation for the officials
of NEMA and LASEMA, who she accused of closing daily at
10.30pm and resuming at 9am “even when it was obvious that
there were several dying victims still trapped under the rubbles.”
She described as insincere the claim by the General Manager of
LASEMA, Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, that officials of the agency
were on ground 24 hours spearheading the rescue operations.
Shoetan also said that the government statutory responders to
emergencies came ill-equipped for the task and were completely
clueless about how to approach the operation based on its
magnitude.
The school teacher testified on Tuesday at the coroner’s inquest
into the death of about 116 persons killed in the Synagogue’s six-
storey guest house.
She said, “I don’t know when NEMA officials left the scene on the
first day, but LASEMA officials left at 10:30pm on the second day.
As of the time LASEMA officials left on the second day, persons
were still trapped under the rubbles.”
Soetan added, “The LASEMA General Manager, Dr. Femi
Osanyintola, though he was very hard working and was always
around at the collapsed site, but what he did most of the time that
he was around was to hold meetings with his team from the state.”
According to the witness, soon after Oke-Osanyintolu left, his men
too would leave.
She said, “Each time they were closing at 10.30pm, I will ask
them: Are you going?
“I did not sleep for five days, I only took my bath on the third day
because there was no one that had human feelings that would be
able to leave the site when he was hearing people crying for help
from under the rubbles.”
Urging the government to provide training and equipment for the
emergency management agencies, Shoetan stated that they were
not better equipped than her own NGO, adding that nothing could
be done until the heavy duty equipment borrowed from a Chinese
construction company arrived.
She also noted that the government agencies brought only one
ambulance, adding that SCOAN provided at least five ambulances.
Earlier in his own testimony, the Chief Security Officer of SCOAN,
Mr. Sunday Okogie, had opposed the claim by both the NEMA and
LASEMA that their officials were denied prompt access to the
collapsed site and obstructed by a crowd in the conduct of their duty.
The CSO, who submitted to the court unedited footage from the
CCTV, which captured the incident from September 12 to 16,
argued that the recordings contradicted the claims by NEMA and
LASEMA.
Okogie pointed out that both agencies arrived at the church about
an hour after the building had collapsed and gained access to the
scene in less than a minute.
Presenting the footage to the coroner, he said, “My Lord, on the
first day of the incident, as you can see, nobody prevented them
from entering into the compound. But as you can see from the
video, LASEMA came with only one bus and no heavy duty
equipment as they claimed before this court.
“The same thing with NEMA. They came ill-equipped for the job of
digging out those who were trapped under the rubbles.”
Okogie further told the court that officials of NEMA and LASEMA
left the collapsed site at about 5:45pm, with the full knowledge
that several persons were still trapped underneath the rubbles.
The CSO said, “For the first three days, that was how they were
operating. They will resume at about 8am and leave in the evening
like they were on duty in the office.”
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