Saraki’s trial: PDP plots to pick Senate president

From the Nation/ 10 hours ago

Barely 24 hours after the arraignment of Senate President Bukola Saraki, some of his loyalists and Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) senators are planning to fight back, The Nation has learnt.

They are said to be working on a plan which will lead to the election of a new Senate President from the opposition party, should Saraki be convicted by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) – the “worst case scenario”.

Security agencies already know about the plot, it was learnt.

Besides, there were signs yesterday that pro-Saraki senators may have “laid an ambush” for President Muhammadu Buhari’s ministerial list, which is being expected at the Senate “any moment from now”.

They may reject the list and all appointments made so far by the President  in protest against Saraki’s trial, a source said.

But the Presidency is unruffled.

A source, who spoke in confidence, said last night: “Some loyalists of Saraki and PDP senators have been meeting on the options available and how to tackle President Muhammadu Buhari.

“At the meeting in Abuja, they resolved to stand by Saraki but if he is convicted, they will make sure that the next president of the Senate is from the PDP.

“They are really aggrieved and have vowed to stop the candidate of the Unity Forum, Sen. Ahmed Lawan, from emerging as Saraki’s successor.

“From the way PDP and its senators are rallying around Saraki, no one needs a soothsayer to know that a bigger conspiracy is in the offing.

“The PDP has not come to terms with the fact that it lost the last general elections.”

Part of the plot is to reject Buhari’s ministerial list and all appointments so far made by the  President, it was learnt.

These appointments include those of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Nigerian Customs Service(NCS) and Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON), among others.

The source went on: “They know that the President will not present imposed candidates as ministerial nominees and they are out for a pound of flesh as from September 29 because the Code of Conduct Bureau( CCB) dragged the President of the Senate to the Code of Conduct Tribunal(CCT)”

It was gathered that security agencies have smashed the plot.

A government source said: “The whole plot is aimed at frustrating the President and cause a political crisis in the country.

“They have this feeling that they must pull down the house due to the arraignment of Saraki by CCT. In spite of denial, they are pointing accusing fingers at the  Presidency for Saraki’s travails.”

Attempts to make loyalists of tHouse of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara, to pitch their tent with Saraki appear to have suffered a setback.

It was learnt that although Saraki backed Dogara to become the Speaker, the “template has changed”.

Dogara and his loyalists would prefer to “facilitate reconciliation between the Presidency and the Senate leadership than taking sides”.

A Dogara supporter said: “There is pressure on our camp to take a hard line position on the trial of Saraki but we will rather broker peace than compound the situation.

“We are not betraying anyone but we believe the challenge at hand is resolvable. If we compound the situation to team up against the Presidency, we will all fail.

“To take sides is to set the House on fire all over. This will not augur well for the new National Assembly.”

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Deadly blast hits Yemen mosque at start of Muslim holiday

From Punch/4 hours ago

At least one blast tore through a mosque in Yemen’s rebel-held capital Sanaa Thursday, witnesses said, targeting Shiite worshippers during prayers at the start of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha and leaving at least 25 dead.

The attack happened in the Balili mosque near a police academy in Sanaa, which is controlled by the Houthi Shiite rebels, according to witnesses. Some reports said there had been two explosions, both by suicide bombers.

At least 25 people were killed, medics told the AFP news agency, with dozens more wounded.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the Yemeni capital has been shaken by a string of bombings of Shiite mosques in recent months claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group.

The radical Sunni Muslim group considers Shiites to be heretics and has also claimed bombings of mosques in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels have seized several regions of Yemen including Sanaa which they overran a year ago.

Pro-government forces backed by Saudi-led air strikes have recently managed to wrest back some southern provinces, including Yemen’s second city of Aden.

The Islamic State group and the Yemen-based branch of its jihadist rival Al-Qaeda have exploited the turmoil to boost their activities in the impoverished country.

The bombing came as Muslims around the world celebrated Eid al-Adha – the feast of sacrifice – which Muslims mark by prayers in congregation at mosques.

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220 people reported dead in Hajj crush outside Mecca

 From Daily Times/2hours ago

At least 220 pilgrims were killed in a crush at Mina, outside the Muslim holy city of Mecca, where some two million people are performing the annual haj pilgrimage, Saudi Arabia’s civil defence authority said.

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BUHARI NEEDS HAD TALKING MINISTERS

Dailytime Nigeria / 12 hours ago

“Kings take pleasure in honest lips; they value a man who speaks the truth” Proverbs 16:13 KJV.

President Muhammadu Buhari has 100 days of warming the highest seat of power in the land has come and gone. We still remember with nostalgia May 29, 2015 as a day of audacious magic that brought back the optimism of our collective will for a new Nigeria. To make a success of repositioning Nigeria, Buhari must begin to love his critics.

In retrospect, it is fact that ministerial silence doomed ex-President Jonathan’s presidency. During his tenure, Jonathan was a prisoner to a cabal that refused to say the truth but rather supported many of his bad decisions. His ministers and advisers lost the commitment to relentlessly speak out against all odds, against ex-President Jonathan’s excesses and against all entrenched privileges. There was no gesture of defiance to save Nigeria, no statement of hope to cheer the intellect, no voices in their angry cadences to speak truth to power.

As a result, Goodluck Jonathan lost all radical determination to fix Nigeria. He made no concerted effort to swing the political pendulum away from suffocating corruption. PDP governors became predators who developed demonic and covetous attitude toward the total cleansing of our commonwealth. It was a person like Okonjo-Iweala who lost the moral and patriotic battle to stand up to Jonathan and make a hell of a noise about the breathtaking bankruptcy of Nigeria’s economic condition.

Rather than advise ex- President Goodluck Jonathan on the mood of the nation, his advisers fooled him with the idea that adversarial political messages against Muhammadu Buhari will swing the vote for him. Nigerians were ready to decide the Manichean struggle between integrity and banality, good and evil, freedom and slavery and the desire for change. The soul of Nigeria was left in the hands of plutocratic technocrats who swallowed our riches in one gulp. There was stark departure of collective outcry to speak truth to power and call former President Goodluck Jonathan to order on these excesses. This is where Mohammadu Buhari must embrace a timely lesson on governance. If indeed it is true according to the proverbs above that kings value the man who speaks the truth, then Buhari must listen more to his future outspoken aides, critics and enemies more than his flatterers who want one favour or another.

What we want is ministers who will be courageous and patriotic enough to speak truth to power if the president is going adrift in his change agenda. We want ministers and advisers who will be audacious enough to trespass their turf by articulating cold truth without fear of retribution. Pursed lips or resignation to cowardice as happened during the time of ex- President Goodluck Jonathan among his ministers and aides should be seen as a crime against the voters who voted for change. Truth telling should no longer be silenced by material indulgence. Already, there is public outcry against President Mohammadu Buhari’s lopsided appointments, selective justice on war against corruption, his religious bigotry and even militarism.
He has to listen to these critics and make necessary correction. Nigerians would prefer a listening president who will respect the opinions and sentiments of internal and external critics who speak out against aberrations that might destroy the democratic renewal and reconstruction we all have been yearning for in the past 16 years. Rather than cosy up to his flatterers, he should rather warm up to his critics and respond to constructive ones with courage and conviction and admission of wrong in the true spirit of the time.

If indeed integrity and honesty are the twin pillars of President Mohammadu Buhari’s change administration, then these values must be elastic enough to accommodate dissenting voices and irritating critics who may have valid reasons to disagree with his public policy formulations. His Ministers and advisers who are closer to him must enjoy the liberty to express their mind when things are going wrong with the ship of state. The ongoing tragic emblem where appointed government officials are turn into demagogues, see no evil and speak no evil zombies should now be outdated. The President should not be blindsided by sweet talk alone he also needs hard talk. That is the true meaning of leadership

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PASTOR KUMUYI URGES NIGERIANS TO DO AWAY WITH CULTISM, NIGHT CLUBBING & OTHER NEGATIVE SOCIAL VICES:

25 mins ago

The General Superintendent, Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor William Kumuyi has charged Nigerians to shun night clubs, cultism and other social vices. Kumuyi made the call while speaking on the topic “The Supernatural Beginning of a Better Future,” at the ongoing Lagos City-wide Crusade in Agege, Lagos.


According to P.M News, he urged Nigerians to root out the habit of night clubbing, cultism and other negative social pastimes from their lives and surrender to Jesus who has the power to break the negative habits from their lives.

 "Every plant that has not been planted in your life shall be rooted out. You would have gone to school, but night club will not allow you; you would have earned money but roaming about will not allow you. The original plan and purpose of God for your life will be fulfilled. People could not get the original plan God has for them because there has been a derailment. Satan, the society and sin conspired to derail your life with the cooperation of self. Your destiny which has been in the hand of Satan, the society and sin will be taken back. All that Satan has planted in your life to make you miss God’s plan for you will be taken away tonight. A glorious beginning is starting in your life today. You must cooperate with God by rooting out those things. That place where you engage in occultic practices, drunkenness, sucking of blood, adultery, robbing and others is not a place of rest because they will destroy you. You must not remain in sin. Awake and put on a new strength. Rise up from that evil and come to the Saviour and something good will come to your life" he said.

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Muslims defy leaders order,collect Fayose's Sallah rams

Muslims defy leaders order,collect Fayose's Sallah rams(Photo)

Muslims in Ekiti yesterday defied the directive of some of their leaders not to collect Sallah gifts from Governor Ayo Fayose, as they trooped to the government house in Ado Ekiti to collect the rams distributed by the governor for Eid-el-Kabir celebration.

This contravened the order earlier issued by Muslim leaders, under the auspices of League of Imams and Alfas, Ekiti State, which urged members to reject the gifts on the strength that their members were not adequately represented in Fayose’s appointments.
Though, another group had countered the League of Imams and Alfas for that action, describing those behind the attack as impostors, who were not known in Islam circle.

While distributing the rams to Imams and other top dignitaries, Fayose said he won’t allow himself to be dragged into playing politics with religion in the state.

The governor urged Muslims to prevent themselves from being used as instruments of politics by desperate politicians, who are bent on maligning his government....

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Police invaded Calabar hotel,arrest 54 prostitutes & 56 male patronisers

Police invaded Calabar hotel,arrest 54 prostitutes & 56 male patronisers

The Cross River State command of the Nigeria Police on Tuesday raided Peace Garden Hotel popularly called `Flower Mills Joint’ and arrested 54 prostitutes and 56 men who had gone to patronise them,Punch reports...

The operation was led by the Cross River State Security Adviser, Mr. Jude Ngaji.

Addressing journalists after the raid which lasted for about four hours, Ngaji said the hotel had been turned into a brothel for commercial sex workers in Calabar.He added that the brothel had been used for criminal activities, selling of drugs and a hideout for criminals in the area.

According to him, the office of the State Security Adviser, in collaboration with security agents in the state, is working to ensure that criminals and prostitutes are shown the way out of the state.

He said,

 “In collaboration with the office of the Area Command in Calabar, we used 11 trucks in conveying the girls and men to the Command.
“Each time you pass here at night, you find under-aged girls of about 13 and 14 years standing by and waiting for men. This place has become an area of concern to the state and Cross Riverians.
“This place has become a Sodom and Gomorrah in Cross River and the raid was carried out to stop prostitution and criminality in the state. All the girls that were caught here are prostitutes and some of them were caught in compromising positions.
“There is no law that legalizes prostitution in Nigeria. The girls will be tried in court and we will ensure that they are returned back to their respective states.”He advised teenage girls to take their studies seriously and engage themselves in meaningful activities, rather than choosing the path of prostitution as a means of livelihood

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Sylvester Ajaji's present predicament needs N2m to restore him again

For 32 years when he served Nigeria at the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Mr. Sylvester Ajayi didn’t suffer a major health challenge. But when it was time to undergo tests at the Gwarimpa General Hospital in order to register for the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), the year he retired from the civil service, he was diagnosed with diabetes type 1.
Though he was surprised at the outcome of the diagnosis owing to many years of good health and a lifestyle devoid of high sugar consumption, 62-year-old Ajayi on the advice of his doctor started using drugs to manage diabetes. He also took up light exercises as further advised by his doctor.
However, sometime in January, the man who worked for over three decades as woodsman started feeling week each time he returned from walking or his light exercise. Things came to head, when in February, Ajayi felt so weak that he asked his wife Roseline to help him whenever he needed to turn over in bed.
“I knew that something was wrong when sometime in February, he asked me to help him turn over while we were in bed,” Roseline told Abuja Metro  at her Gwarimpa home.

Read detail of his story following the link below

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LEARN HOW ENIOLA STARTED HIS IMPORTATION BIZ WITH JUST LOW CAPITAL.

 

The answer will shock and delight you! It’s an amazing new discovery that's now making Eniola up to N250,000 profits monthly importing and selling stuffs, without even a shop and custom wahala!

 

Here's Exactly How Eniola Does it!

His name is Eniola (surname not included on request), he was just a secondary school leaver from Akure, Ondo state.

His problems have always been capital to implement all he has learnt   about how to import genuine original items legitimately from Asia, USA, Europe etc at stupidly low prices without traveling abroad whatsoever.

After trying all he could without anybody helping out, he pressed on his mom to lend him about N10,500.

He then swung into action!
 

Guess the first product he imported?

 

O yea... that's some colorful blackberry phone covers.

And guess how much he bought each of them; and how much he sold them here in Nigeria?

 

  (Click Here To Continue - Page 2 of 3...)

 

Nigerian banks safe, sound despite TSA outflows –CBN

Nigerian banks safe, sound despite TSA outflows –CBN

…As MPR retained at 13%, CRR now 25%

According to Isaac Anumihe, Abuja, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday retained the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 13 per cent and the symmetrical corridor at 200 basis points around the MPR.
This is as it also retained the liquidity ratio at 30 per cent while reducing the Cash Requirement Ratio (CRR) from 31 per cent to 25 per cent.
Speaking after the MPC meeting in Abuja,  the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele,  explained that  the decision was in  consideration of the underlying fundamentals of the economy, particularly the declining output growth, rising unemployment, evolving international economy as well as the need to properly position the economy on a sustainable growth part.
On the Treasury Single Account (TSA), Emefiele assured that Nigerian banks are safe because they are about the most regulated financial institutions in the economy today. He, however, said that CBN would continue to monitor their health and liquidity to ensure that they don’t slide into difficulty.
“The Nigerian banks are about the most regulated banks today. The liquidity ratio shows that Nigerian banks are safe and we will continue to monitor their liquidity from time to time to ensure they do not slide into difficult terrain,” he said.
According to him, there has been a lot of speculations in the market about the amount that needed to be moved from the banks to CBN’s TSA account is not up to the amount expected, saying that the movement is still ongoing.
“The truth is that the amount that has been moved so far is less than the amount that people are quoting on the pages of newspapers. The TSA is an ongoing exercise because the amount in CBN as at September 15 is less than what it is as at today, September 22. The amount keeps growing.
“What we are saying is that a lot of people are predicting that there is a lot of liquidity squeeze created as a result of this. The data that the committee reviewed between yesterday and today show that liquidity ratio increased moderately. So, that is why the committee came up with the conclusion that the impact of the movement of funds from the banks to CBN on liquidity is sort of moderate,” he noted.
But he emphatically explained that no institution has been exempted from the exercise, while appealing to every institution to comply.
“The truth is that as far as I am concerned, I have not seen any memo that exempts any institution from the TSA. So, as a result, I will advice those who think they have been exempted to please avoid creating confusion because I have not seen any and for that reason, no institution has been exempted. I will appeal to those who have been affected by the movement of funds from the bank to the CBN TSA account to please comply.

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A CASE FOR SOLAR ENERGY

A CASE FOR SOLAR ENERGY

By Philip Chukwueke

On  June 3, 2015, Egypt, with a population of 88 million people and 27,000 MegaWatts of installed electricity capacity, announced a contract with Siemens AG of Germany for the development of 16,400 Megawatts of renewable energy based on a combination of wind, solar power and natural gas technologies. Based on this agreement, Egypt expects to increase its electricity generation by 30% by year 2020 and by 50% at the completion of the contract.

In contrast, Nigeria with a population estimated at 170 million, is still tottering on a generation capacity of 5,900 MW of electricity.  This is one of the lowest electricity consumption on a per capita basis in the world when compared with the average per capita electricity usage in Libya, which is 4,270KWH; India, 616KWH; China, 2,944KWH; South Africa, 4,803 KWH; Singapore, 8,307KWH; and the United States, 13,394KWH.”
Against this background,  the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) released a document entitled Draft Feed In Tariff for Renewable Energy Sourced Electricity. As per this document, a maximum of 2,000 MW was earmarked for all renewable energy sources deployable into the Nigeria GRID by year 2020. Of this amount, only 387 MW was earmarked for solar electricity. For the balance of 1,613 MW was spread across other renewable solutions such as hydro, wind and biomass. Graphically speaking, while Egypt has chosen to leap like a frog, Nigeria has chosen to crawl like a snail.

Thinking within the box, it is very easy to understand why these paltry numbers are put out by NERC. The electricity generation, transmission and distribution eco-systems in Nigeria are very weak; the distribution companies better known as DisCos, are still struggling to upgrade their networks, purchase and deploy meters and pay their energy supply bills; and some sections of the transmission grid remain unstable and have limited capacity to accept additional power generation from the GenCos; and to compound the situation, the Nigerian consumer, perennially defrauded by electricity bills that have little correlation with usage, ferociously resists any increases in electrical tariffs.For these reasons, NERC, acting within the existing regulatory and policy frameworks, must of necessity think SMALL, and must frame the renewable energy strategy in microscopic numbers as reflected in the figures presented earlier. This policy framework is dead wrong and potentially very dangerous to Nigeria! Our energy policy framers must of necessity think outside of the box if we are ever going to realistically confront and master this country’s energy security and destiny.
Fortunately, there is at least one different approach to the electricity conundrum. To address near term electricity needs, Nigeria must consider a careful design and introduction of a two-tiered (time of day) tariffing mechanism that can support an aggressive deployment of solar energy in Nigeria. Why solar? Amongst renewable energy technologies, solar energy has very unique features that mandate special treatment in the energy policy framework:

Solar electricity can be cost effectively harnessed anywhere in Nigeria; with sunlight everywhere, it is probably the only renewable energy solution that can be sitedanywhere to address local and regional needs. Recent advancesin technical performance of solar panels and cost reductions in utility scale storage technologies make this feasible.Solar electricityis generated only during the day – the period of time a significant number of electricity consumers may be willing to pay slightly more for better guarantees on electricity supply. Electricity consumption pattern in Nigeria is distributed roughly 50-50 between residential consumers and commercial/industrials, with the latter accounting for the bulk of the daytime consumption. Hence with cost of running an average sized genset at multiples the cost of comparable solar electricity, it is a no brainer that most commercial enterpriseswill welcome a slight increase in daytime tariffs as an alternative to running the gensets. Some banks in Lagos are already retrofitting their branches from conventional electricity supplies to solar. Under this flexible tariffing scheme, an additional 3,000MW of solar electricity can be commissioned within 5 years in a way that provides adequate protection to off-peak (evening and night), mostly residential consumers. This is not rocket science. One can speculate that most Nigerian homes can suffice with 12 hours per day of off-peak electricity delivered at the normal tariff. The alternative, however, is for the nation to be stuck with a 10 year gestation needed for other forms of energy to develop from concept to commissioning.

Solar panels account for 60% of the cost of a typical utility scale deployment; hence, largescale deployments envisaged under this scheme can spawn local solar panel manufacturing in Nigeria – possibly within the next 18 months. No other energy source offers such a tremendous potential for content localization. It is noteworthy that the Siemens contract in Egypt provides for the establishment of a local plant that will manufacture 600 wind turbines and rotor blade assembly units, creating 1,000 high technology jobs for Egyptian youths.

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PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI ADDRESSES UN GEN ASSEMBLY. SEPT 28

PMB ADDRESSES UN GEN ASSEMBLY. SEPT 28

President Muhammadu Buhari will address the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly on September 28.
The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, in a statement said, Buhari will depart Nigeria for New York on Thursday and return home on Tuesday, September 29.
Buhari and other world leaders are expected to address the problem of terrorism and global security. Adesina said Buhari would use the occasion of the visit to have series of meetings and interactions with notable world leaders within and on the sidelines of the main events of the Session.
According to him, the president’s agenda include, deliberations and interactions with the UN Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki Moon, United States President Barack Obama, French leader Francois Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian President Vladmir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, India Prime Minister Narenda Modi and others.
President Buhari will be accompanied by the governors of Sokoto, Kaduna and Niger States, the National Security Adviser and the Permanent Secretaries in the Federal Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Defence, Finance, Health, Industry, Trade and Investment.
Adesina further stated that the president would also address the World Leaders Summit on Violent Extremism to which Ki Moon personally invited him during his recent visit to Nigeria.

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Nigeria’s economy could slip into recession, CBN warns

Nigeria’s economy could slip into recession, CBN warns

The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria on Tuesday warned that the country’s economy could slip into recession by next year if proactive steps were not taken by the Federal Government to revive key sectors of the economy.

It also reduced the Cash Reserves Requirements for Banks from 31 per cent to 25 per cent as well as retained the Monetary Policy Rate at 13 per cent.

The committee also retained the symmetric corridor of 200 basis points around the MPR; and left the Liquidity Ratio unchanged at 30 per cent.

Addressing journalists shortly after the two-day meeting of the committee held at the CBN headquarters in Abuja, the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, noted that the economy had remained fragile owing to various factors.

For instance, he said the country’s Gross Domestic Product Growth Rate recorded a slow growth in the second quarter of this year, making it the second consecutive less-than-expected performance for the current fiscal year.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, real GDP grew by 2.35 per cent in the second quarter of 2015, a significant decrease when compared with the 3.96 per cent and 6.54 per cent in the preceding quarter and corresponding period of 2014, respectively.

Real GDP growth is projected by the NBS to stabilise at 2.63 per cent in 2015, compared with the 6.22 per cent recorded in 2014.

The committee, according to the governor, however, noted that the impact of non-payment of salaries at the state and local government levels had led to reduction on consumer demand.

He said while year-on-year headline inflation continued to trend upwards, demand pressure in the foreign exchange market remained significant as oil prices continued to decline.

As a result of these developments, Emefiele said there were indications that some of the banking sector performance indicators could be stressed if these conditions worsen further.

Specifically, he expressed worry that liquidity withdrawals following the implementation of the Treasury Single Account, elongation of the tenure of state governments loans as well as loans to the oil and gas sectors could aggravate liquidity conditions in banks and impair their financial intermediation role.

These, he noted, could affect economic growth, unless some actions were immediately taken to ease liquidity conditions in the markets.

He said, “The committee noted that the overall macroeconomic environment remained fragile.

“The committee noted that liquidity withdrawals following the implementation of the TSA, elongation of the tenure of state government loans as well as loans to the oil and gas sectors could aggravate liquidity conditions in banks and impair their financial intermediation role, thus affecting economic growth, unless some actions were immediately taken to ease liquidity conditions in the markets.

“Having seen two consecutive quarters of slow growth, the committee recognized that the economy could slip into recession in 2016 if proactive steps were not taken to revive growth in key sectors of the economy.”

(Source: PUNCH)

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ANOTHER BUILDING COLLAPSES IN LAGOS CITY

ANOTHER BUILDING COLLAPSES IN LAGOS CITY

The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency has said it has yet to determine the number of casualties in Tuesday building collapse in Lekki area of the state. The General Manager of the agency, Michael Akindele, said this in an interview at the scene of the incident. The collapsed building was located at 37 Agungi/Ajiran Road, Osapa London, Lekki in Eti-Osa Local Government Area. “As l speak, l cannot ascertain whether there is anybody trapped, dead or alive, until when we conclude the search and rescue mission. “For now, we are still on rescue mission to ensure that there is no life under the debris. “Until we get to the zero level before we can make any further pronouncement,’’ he said. He, however, said that the agency would conduct investigation to determine the quality of materials used to construct the building. “As at August 11, the three buildings under construction here were marked by the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) and the contractors served appropriately to stop construction. “This collapse is out of defiance; however, necessary investigations will be done by appropriate agency after which it will act appropriately. “LASEMA is here on search and rescue mission,’’ he said. Mr. Akindele explained that before officials of the agency arrived at the scene, two people had already been rescued alive. He said the agency was informed that the construction workers were already out before the collapse. He said his officials would do their best to ensure anybody who was trapped in the building was rescued. A witness at the scene said that four people were still trapped while two persons were rescued before the arrival of emergency officials. At the scene of the rescue operation were Lagos State Fire Service, Nigerian Police, LASBCA, LASEMA, Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps and Federal Road Safety Corps. (NAN)