The Socialist Party of Nigeria, SPN, has called for a probe of the situation that surrounded the building that collapsed in Abuja last week.
The building, located in Jabi area, which collapsed on Friday was said to have left one person dead and six others injured.
In a statement issued by its secretary, Akande Daniel, the party said it learnt that the collapsed building had been abandoned for about 15 years before work started on it again recently.
“SPN, hereby, calls for probe of the collapsed building, as it was reported that the building has been abandoned for fifteen years before the work on the building resumed few months ago.
“We also call for democratic management and control of the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC) and the FCT Department of Development by the elected representative of workers, government officials and people in community.
“It is possible that both the collapse of the building and the disaster that emanated from it is averted, if the FCT Department of Development and Control adequately monitored the stages of building to ensure that standards are met,” the party said.
It blamed the ruling elite for not pursuing a coherent people-oriented housing policy that caters for the housing needs of all for the incessant collapse of buildings.
It said there was a housing deficit of 17 million housing units and the governments at all levels had no plan to build affordable houses for the masses, an action that the party said left mostly private developers the free hand to build for profit.
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It argued that it was in the pursuit of profit that standards and safety were usually compromised to reduce cost while government regulatory officials were often bribed to look the other way.
“To us in SPN, no amount of mortgage policy or private housing policy is capable of reviving the housing industry.
“This is because building houses will always be costly and unaffordable as long as the construction materials continue to be expensive and costly beyond what the working people can afford.
“It is in the light of this that we of SPN often call for public ownership of the industries that produces constructional materials like steel, cement etc., under a democratic control of workers and the communities in order to make the construction material cheap, affordable with a view to guarantee safety and standard.
“This is the only viable way the aspiration to ensure that houses are built on a massive scale to meet the needs of all can be guaranteed,” the party said.
