Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has ordered the immediate suspension of Mrs Adenike Adekanbi, General Manager, Lagos State Infrastructure and Asset Management Agency (LASIAMA).

Mr Olumide Sogunle, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information and Strategy, made the disclosure in a statement on Sunday in Lagos. 

Sanwo-Olu approved the suspension based on the outcome of the investigative panel set up to probe the incident surrounding the death of Dr Diaso Vwaere in an elevator accident. 

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Vwaere, a medical house officer, with General Hospital, Odan, Lagos, died on Aug. 1, as a result of injuries sustained when the elevator she was in crashed in the staff quarters of the hospital.

Sanwo-Olu said that LASIAMA oversees the activities of the facility management company in charge of the house officers quarters of the hospital.

According to him, the state has sacked and blacklisted the facility managers.

The governor said that the operations and line of reporting of the facility managers had been restructured to involve the hospital management directly.

“We have handed the installation and maintenance contractors to the police for further investigation and likely prosecution if they are found culpable. 

“The police will also investigate anyone else that might have been found to be negligent,” he said. 

He said that engineers are working to unravel why all the safety devices of the elevator failed at the same time.

“It is also important to state that the elevator that crashed was installed brand new in 2021. 

“Elevator experts, working with the Lagos Safety Commission, have carried out an initial inspection and will be removing the elevator for further mechanical examination to determine why the safety features that should prevent this kind of accident did not work. 

“Their findings will determine if we have a case with the elevator installer,” he said. 

Sanwo-Olu said that the Lagos Safety Commission had been directed to immediately carry out an audit of all elevators in public offices. 

“This is besides the usual safety arrangements that have always existed,” he said. 

The governor noted that all staff of the state are fully insured, adding that the state’s life insurance providers had been informed about the incident.

Sanwo-Olu commiserated with the deceased family and colleagues, saying, ‘as a government, we feel the pain of this irreparable loss’. (NAN)