14 states recorded 47 building collapse cases in 2024 – Report

A report by the Building Collapse Prevention Guild has revealed that 47 building collapses were recorded across 14 states in Nigeria in 2024.

In a statement, the report disclosed that building collapse rose to 640 from October 1974 to January 9, 2025.

It stated, “In 2024, there were 47 recorded building collapses across 14 states. Lagos continued to lead with 13 incidents, followed by Abuja with six, Anambra with five, and Kano and Rivers with four each. Other states like Jigawa and Plateau recorded three collapses each, while Osun and Delta saw two each. Additionally, Niger, Abia, Edo, Oyo, and Ebonyi each had one recorded collapse.

“Lagos State accounts for 55.15 per cent of the recorded incidents, significantly higher than other regions. Abuja follows as the second-highest contributor with 4.37 per cent, while Anambra ranks third with 4.06 per cent. Oyo and Kano occupy the fourth and fifth positions with 3.44 per cent and 3.28 per cent of the recorded incidents, respectively.

Taraba, Bayelsa, Gombe, and Yobe states had their first recorded building collapse in 2022. Other states such as Zamfara, Taraba, Yobe, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Sokoto, Gombe, Katsina, and Kebbi have had only one recorded building collapse since their inclusion in the data.

The report added that 1971, 1975, and 1981 recorded no building collapse.

It added, “However, despite the COVID lockdown in 2020, there were still 45 recorded collapses, with Lagos accounting for 18 (40 per cent) of those incidents. The year 2022 saw the highest number of collapses, with 62 nationwide, and Lagos again had the highest share, recording 20 (32 per cent) incidents.

In 2023, 52 collapses were recorded nationwide, with Lagos contributing 17 (33 per cent).

“The first recorded building collapse in Nigeria took place in October 1974 in Oyo State, where a multi-storey building caved in due to excessive loading, tragically killing 27 people. The tallest building collapse in the country occurred in Lagos on November 1, 2021, resulting in the deaths of 52 people.”

The PUNCH earlier reported that Nigeria witnessed 635 building collapse cases between 1974 and November 5, 2024.

It disclosed this in its latest report, stating that Lagos State had recorded the highest cases with over 351 buildings caving in the last 50 years.

The report showed that the 351 collapsed buildings in Lagos represented 55.28 per cent of the total of 635 recorded cases across the country during this period.