High-rise buildings’ elevators pose danger to Lagosians

An elevator entranceElevators are meant to make movement through floors of high-rise buildings easy. However, Lagosians face the risk of getting stuck or suffocated as most of the elevators in Lagos’ high-rise buildings develop faults at will alongside the epileptic power supply needed to make them functional, reports Friday Ekeoba.

One of the features of Lagos State is the presence of high-rise buildings, which is expected of every city where space is usually a constraint for its inhabitants. Much as the tall buildings are usually constructed to maximize the use of space in densely-populated cities, there is an inherent danger in using elevators usually installed in such buildings to ease movement.

Many of the high-rise buildings are more or less a death trap because of the deplorable condition of the elevators used by those who have their different offices on the various floors in such buildings. One recurrent issue that has continued to put people in more danger in these buildings is that of the elevators which are as old as the buildings because little or no maintenance is carried out on them.

During a visit to Lagos Island, LagosLife discovered that there were several high-rise buildings, some of which dated back as far as the 60s. Notable high-rise buildings on the Island include the former Daily Times office which is a 25-storey building but now owned by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the Kakawa building, Madillas building, Unity House, the Bookshop House, the Royal Exchange and the UBA buildings.

One of the common experiences in these high rise buildings’ elevators is that whenever one is inside, one needs to hold his breath as nobody knows what can happen in transit. Another thing with the elevators is that, unlike it is in a properly-maintained elevator in which the inside is usually cool and lighted, the situation is different because of limited power supply.

Last year, a sad incidence occurred at the Bendel Insurance building adjacent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange, where one of the elevator operators was trapped along with a visitor for several hours. When the elevator door was finally opened, the operator was dead, while the other occupant was rushed to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sick bay on Customs Street, Lagos Island for medical attention. Aside other stories surrounding the use of the elevators, it has become a daily occurrence now for visitors and occupants of those high rise buildings to be trapped in the elevators due to power outage and, some of the time, due to technical fault arising from poor maintenance.

A maintenance manager in one of the high rise buildings along Customs Street, who would not want his name in print, said most of the elevators are more or less death traps, waiting patiently for their victims.

He said though all elevators have an endless life span, due to poor maintenance culture by most companies, the elevators now have short lifespan while incessant power outage does not help matters. According to him, the two known elevators all over the world are the Rally micro processor electronic elevator and the computerised one which uses card but the former is the only one common in the country because the computerised elevator is too expensive to maintain.

He added that both elevators are manufactured to last for a particular life time but due to poor maintenance culture they hardly last for 20 years. He stressed the need for the authorities concerned to ensure total overhauling of the elevators in these buildings to avert disaster which could result in loss of lives. Speaking with Lagos Life, a stockbroker who would not want her name mentioned said, “every day I use to pray concerning the elevators I would enter on the Island .

“I can’t imagine running away from motor accident on the road, only to come and experience death in the elevators which are in total state of disrepair”, she said. She said but for the high rise nature of the buildings, she would have preferred using the staircase, “which I would advise those who have the strength to be using, so as to avoid the elevators which nobody can guarantee their well functioning.”

For Okafor Samson, who works with a law firm in the Unity House building along Customs Street, there is no need to service these present elevators in most of the high rise buildings in the state as most of them have gone so bad and beyong repairs. The management of these buildings should consider the idea of buying new elevators to avert major accident, he said. He observed that one area that giving the people concern is the lack of maintenance culture for dilapidated infrastructure in the state, especially high rise buildings where maintenance of facilities, including the elevators has been neglected for many years.