Building Collapse: Is Fourscore Homes Responsible Company?

Since Monday November 1, 2021, the issue of the 21 storey building under construction at Ikoyi that collapsed, there has been all manners of issues being thrown up from this very avoidable incident.

There has been the issue of actual approval for 15 floors but owner exceeding 15 to 21 floors.

There is equally the issue of the engineers in charge of the project pulling out since February 2020 because according to them, the owner of the project was not following the technical threshold in the project.

There is equally the issue of the Lagos State Building Control Agency sealing off the premises in July for failing the minimum required standard.

All these issues are on same building and it got to a stage it went down with human casualties.

My focus however, is on the organizational structure & response of the project owners – Fourscore Homes Limited.

The storey building that collapsed belongs to Fourscore Homes Limited while the Managing Director is Mr. Olufemi Adegoke Osibona who is believed to be among those trapped in the debris of the collapsed building.

Fourscore Homes Limited is a limited liability company that is totally different from an enterprise or a business name that one man is everything, from gateman to Managing Director. However, as a limited liability company there are minimum standard put in place by Companies And Allied Matters Act (the corporate regulator for companies in Nigeria) – minimum of two Directors as well as a minimum of two shareholders. The Companies And Allied Matters Act equally provides for annual filing of annual returns as well of checking on the going ons in the company. A limited liability company was not caved out by Companies And Allied Matters Act to exist, survive or die with one man.

A company with billions of Naira properties, assets and ongoing projects like Fourscore Homes Limited experienced such a humongous incident as the one witnessed on Monday and you do not see any signs of the company anywhere taking steps to assist the emergency responders on ground to give accurate information on the design, features etc of the building to assist the responders in making prompt and right calls on action.

The company is not on ground to give information to the public on the event playing out and assure the populace that the company is on ground cooperating with the various government agencies in rescue efforts to ensure more people are pulled out alive and those dead are properly taken care of even in death.

The company is not on ground to give information of number of people on the site at the time the incident occurred, so as people are being pulled out (either dead or alive), responders are aware of the number yet to be pulled out rather than working blindly to the answer.

The company is not on ground reaching out to the families of those either trapped or pulled consoling them, giving them real time information and assuring them that they are with them in this trying period.

The company has not established a help desk where both families and the press can reach them for authentic information regarding their loved ones and what can be done instead of everyone speculating on every issue regarding the company and the incident.

The company has made no arrangement for the treatment of those injured in the collapse.

The company has not put up any information to set the records straight on the allegations of going beyond the approved number of floors and withdrawal from the project by its project managers and take control of the information flow on itself and its project.

The company has not come out to assure the subscribers of the apartments in the collapsed building as to what is the fate of the investment in the collapsed building as it was alleged that the 21 floors was 67% subscribed before the collapse.

The company has not come out to inform the public that the structure was insured before its collapse and that it’s working with the insurance companies to work out the details of compensation.

The company has not come out to assure the public that there is workmen compensation insurance on everyone caught in the building before its collapse.

The company has been SILENT! It’s the Lagos State Government that is speaking for the company and contradicting itself on the number of floors and offering free treatment to all survivors rescued alive. Not a word from the company.

That the MD & CEO of Fourscore Homes Limited may be trapped in the debris of the collapsed building is not an excuse, in fact it exposes the company as an irresponsible company, a one-man-business that cannot function without its owner or a company that cannot rise above the CEO’s level. This deafening silence of the company exposes other existing high brow properties of Fourscore Homes Limited as clients owning any of the properties or residing in any of their properties will now be agitated and confused as to what is their fate.
Who are the other Directors of Fourscore Homes Limited?
Who are the other shareholders of Fourscore Homes Limited?
Why are the other Directors and or shareholders not standing up to the occasion the company now finds itself in? Or is this a case of me, my wife and children as Directors & shareholders?

This is a company that its Managing Director has been bringing high profile personalities within and outside the country into the property to market same and I can imagine that some of these high profile personalities will be among the 67% subscribed owners of the property before its collapse.

Very soon we will get press release from the company’s lawyers which will come out as a late damage control. A caring company will first sooth frayed nerves, assure stakeholders that they feel their pains and are with them on this, not coming out with legalities, but legalities should not be the first step, rather the last.

It is hoped that this will serve as a lesson of some sort, to Alter Egos of companies who will not allow the company to rise above its alter ego. In this part of the world, we build individuals to the detriment of building institutions, forgetting that institutions survive the individuals and where individuals survive institutions, then such individuals are the WORST FAILURES.

May the souls of those who lost their lives in this incident rest in eternal peace as they are the victims of a corrupt society that builds the individual to undermine the institution.

Philips Njeteneh
Just minding my business