She said the centre would promote investment and build capacity by leading delegations from Uganda, Rwanda and Zambia to Singapore and Malaysia.

"We shall make presentations about investment opportunities available in the region on August 16," Kigozi said in an interview.

She said the three countries would also learn from the Egyptian, Malaysian and Singaporean investors.

"We intend to promote investment projects in tourism, agriculture, agro-processing, infrastructure and information technologies."

Kigozi said Egyptian investors had projects in Uganda like Egypt Air, Cairo International Bank, Arab Contractors, El Nasser Export and Import Company and Africa Development Incorporation.

She looked forlorn as she sat on the fence. Intermittently, she dials her phone but gets no response.

For hours she had worked her phone to make contact with her brother buried in the debris along with scores of others, but this yielded no result.

As the minutes ticked to hours and night gave way to day, the hope of finding any of the persons trapped in the collapsed buildings alive dimmed.

As at last night, only one body had been retrieved from the rubble of the buildings, bringing the total number of the dead so far to three.

At least fifty persons are said to have been trapped in the rubble of the collapsed buildings.

The rescue of a man around 10 pm on Tuesday had raised the hopes of finding more people alive and increased the tempo of the rescue efforts.

Two extra earth-moving equipment provided by Dantata & Sawoe were deployed to quicken the rescue effort.

Man and machine toiled all night long moving debris in order to get to those trapped in the buildings, which were part of a yet-to-be-completed shopping plaza allegedly owned by an ex-governor in one of the South-south states.

As the rescue efforts went on throughout the night, hundreds of sympathisers and members of the families of the trapped victims kept vigil at the site.

A young lady was so exasperated with the situation that she got herself into trouble when she said what was playing out was a national tragedy.

She was instantly whisked away by the police.

Volunteers made do with all manner of tools including bare hands to complement the efforts of construction companies - Julius Berger, Dantata & Sawoe, SCC and Arab Contractors.

Tobias Unachukwu, a trader had rushed to the scene as soon as the buildings came crashing down by 3.15 pm on Tuesday with a hammer, eager to help.

He was not alone, as he was later joined by two men in their early 30s wielding shovels.

They dug in frenzy while security agencies tried to maintain a semblance of order around the site. At about 11 pm, the mass of sympathisers surged forward when someone atop the debris had indicated that he had spotted a victim. Everyone ran to help, but the security agencies had to push them back to the safety barrier to avoid being crushed by heavy machinery.

The police yesterday in Abuja confirmed that a total of nine people have been rescued and four corpses recovered from the collapsed buildings. The FCT command spokesman Supt Ahmed Musa confirmed the death toll to THISDAY, adding that rescue operation was still going on even as he expressed optimism that more people would be rescued.

However, Director-General of Nigeria Civil Defence Corps (NCDC) told newsmen at the scene of the tragedy that they had lost telephone contact with two of the trapped victims obviously as a result of battery run-down of the victims' cell phones.

According to him, the phone of one of the victim rings, but there was no response, raising fears that the death toll might rise further unless they were rescued early enough.

But, hoodlums yesterday invaded the site of the collapsed buildings on P. O. W. Mafemi Street off Solomon Lar Way, carting away building rods, cement mixing machines and zinc.

They were observed darting across to invade the area, cashing in on the fact that security operatives are engaged in crowd- control.

THISDAY observed them carting away building rods, cement mixing machines and zinc in and around the collapsed buildings.

Meanwhile, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Dr. Aliyu Modibbo Umar, yesterday made good his threat to bring all those who might have played a role in the collapse of the buildings to book by ordering the immediate suspension of two officials of the FCTA's Department of Development Control (DDC).

He said the decision was to ensure an unhindered investigation into the collapse of the buildings. The affected officials are the Assistant Director, (Building Permit), Mrs. Amina Egella and the District Officer (Utako), Mr. Umoru Halilu.

A statement by the Senior Special Assistant (Media) to the FCT Minister, Mr. Diran Onifade, disclosed that the collapsed buildings belonged to Expose Nigeria Limited and that the land was allocated under the Accelerated Development programme of the FCTA in December 2005. But he insisted that only plot 230 was allocated to the company.

Onifade said the company, however, went ahead to extend the building illegally into the adjoining Plot 1161, earmarked for residential purposes in violation of the terms of approval.

He added that a stop work notice was immediately issued to the developer in series: a stop work notice on August 13, 2007, a quit notice on September 20, 2007 and a demolition notice on December 4, 2007.

But the company continued building until it collapsed Tuesday afternoon.

The Minister of the State for Environment, Mr. Chuka Odom, who visited the site at about 9am called for an investigation into circumstances surrounding the continued development of the buildings, which structure were compromised as evidenced by the cracks in the building and pillars that supported the structure.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Dimeji Bankole, was also among early callers to the site yesterday. But he did not speak with newsmen.

However, the House yesterday summoned Modibo and officials of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) over the collapse of the buildings.

The decision followed a motion moved by Atai Aidoko. The minister and relevant departments in the FCDA are expected to explain why the shopping complex still under construction collapsed.

Members of the House argued that it was inexplicable that such a building could go on without proper supervision leading to its collapse and avoidable loss of lives.

Garba Matazu also drew the attention of his colleagues to another building by the side of the building, which he said could also give way at any point because it was also badly constructed and was posing a danger to public safety.

Members of the House also enjoined relevant government agencies to implement the national building code to save the nation from a re-occurrence of such unfortunate incidents.

The Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), AVM Mohammed Audu Bida (rtd) has, however, admitted that the agency does not have evacuation equipment and had to resort to the use of those of construction companies. But he said his officials were supposed to coordinate the activities of all rescue workers.

He urged Nigerians not to give up hope as "trapped victims have been known to survive for days" and gave the assurance that the rescue workers would continue to remove the debris to get to those trapped.

And as hope dims for those trapped under the rubble of the collapsed buildings, Commissioner for the Nigerian Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Mr. Fola Daniel, has revealed that most of the government-owned buildings have no insurance cover and that efforts are ongoing to ensure that such buildings are insured in line with Section 64, 65 of Insurance Act 2003.

Daniel made this startling revelation yesterday while inspecting the multi-billion naira yet-to-be-completed shopping complex that collapsed on Tuesday at Jabi District of Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

He described the incident as an embarrassment to the country. "As a nation, we must be deeply embarrassed. It's a very sad day for us as Nigerians and as an insurance commissioner I'm deeply worried because it's happening almost on daily basis but it comes life to us in Abuja," he said.

He continued: "I'm sure this is not the first collapse structure in Abuja but this is the most prominent one and there are several buildings waiting to collapse. Three months back we saw this kind of ugly scenario and I'm glad we had no problem persuading the government to do a circular to all government parastatals and agencies on the need to insure public buildings.

"This is a public building. A circular of that nature is not targeted at private individuals like this but we also know that there are several government buildings that might not have been built in accordance with the stipulated standards and they can also collapse. Of course we have the government building that collapsed on Broad Street in Lagos (BOI) where several people lost their lives."

He said the circular dated July, 2008 was signed by the Secretary to Government of the Federation, Ambassador Baba-Gana Kingibe, and circulated to all government parastatals and agencies.

He said the commission would soon embark on sensitisation programmes to enlighten the public of the need to ensure that all residential and public buildings are insured as well as vehicles in various motor parks.

"We want to sensitise Nigerians about the dangers of uninsured public buildings. In fact, we want to sensitise Nigerians to the extent that a prospective tenant will be asking whether the building is insured and they have the right to ask. Just like anybody that wants to travel by any public bus should be asking whether that vehicle was properly insured because it is about their lives," he said.

He noted that insuring a building gives the owner and its occupants extra security in case of any mishap. He, however, said all public officials had been insured in the PENCOM Act 2004, adding that every employer of labour that has a minimum of five employees must insure the workers.

He said there was no provision in the Insurance Act for compensation of victims of collapsed buildings in the country.

"Unfortunately, the compensation for victims is related only to motor vehicle insurance (section 78 of Insurance Act 2003). That has not been extended to things like this, but may be for future there may be need to extend it to buildings that are not properly built and may collapse.

"The insurance companies that would have given insurance cover to a building like this, as an underwriter, I will not give cover to a building like this. I will be interested from day one when they started the foundation and I will be interested in the quality of materials used," he said.

Mr. Mathew Attahiru, Chairman, Nigerian Institute of Builders (NIB) FCT chapter, urged the FCT administration to set up a "building regulation committee" that will complement the activities of the FCT development control.

"We will really recommend to government to put a stop to this structure and get the Structural Engineer to check the safety, soundness and health of whatever has been put in place. If it does not pass the test, we recommend that the building should be pulled down," he said.

At about 3:20 p.m., on that black day, a member of a family of fragile buildings at Utako District, Mafemi Crescent, off Augustus Aikhomu Crescent, Jabi, near the Media Trust Office, came crashing over100 builders and hangers on. With government's routine failure to be fast to rescue hapless citizens, one of the first rescue workers to get to the scene, as usual, was the Red Cross Society.

The Abuja branch secretary of the Red Cross Society, Mr. Nwaubani, in an interview with Sunday Vanguard on the collapsed building, said, "The level of emergency in the country is poor. We do not have equipment on ground. If not for the construction companies (Dantata & Sawoe and Costain) that came to assist, I wonder what would have happened. "Berger joined us this (Wednesday) morning. The body recovered this morning was still fresh. That shows that if the emergency situation was better, he would have survived."

The emergency problem is attributable to the failure of governance. On January 18, 2008, the director general of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Air Vice Marshal Audu Bida, told the Senate Committee on Federal Character that the Federal Government was owing the agency N9.4 billion of un-remitted ecological funds, which would have gone a long way to acquire a warehouse of emergency equipment. "N9.4billion ecological fund which should have been remitted to the agency was not remitted. In 2007, the agency was to receive N4.7billion, but, unfortunately, we got nothing", Bida said.

The Senate Committee on Federal Character chaired by Sen. Smart Adeyemi also discovered that NEMA had only one rescue helicopter, prompting Adeyemi to suggest that "you write the President as I am sure he would attend to you; one helicopter for NEMA is not enough." Following that dark Tuesday, the House of Representatives, on Wednesday, resolved, among other things, to summon the minister of Federal Capital Territory Administration to brief it on the cause of the tragedy. A matter of urgent public importance motion, raised by Hon. Atai Ali Aidoko (PDP Kogi), drew the attention of the House to the collapsed structure.

The motion noted "with grief the collapse of a massive building under construction in Utako District of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja yesterday July 29, 2008." It further noted "with grave concern that hundreds of innocent persons have been trapped in the rubble of the collapsed building." The mover of the motion said he suspected "a breach of the National Building Code in the construction of the building resulting in its collapse and consequent loss of lives and injuries to many persons", while he enjoined the House of Representatives to the be "mindful of its responsibilities to residents of the Federal Capital Territory under section 299 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria."

Former House Committee Chairman on FCT, Hon. Philip Aduda(PDP Bwari/FCT), told the House that "the building was supposed to house 100 shops, but today we are talking about 100 lives been trapped in its rubble." He advised the house to "look at ways to bring to an end to the continuous collapse of buildings in the country." The chairman, House Committee on Housing and Habitat, Hon. Shehu Garba Matazu (PDP Katsina), who was also at the building collapse site earlier with Speaker Bankole said "enough cement was not used on the building" and charged that "anybody who goes contrary to the National Building Code should be given stiff penalties, because many people contravene the National Building Code intentionally."

After a heated debate, the House resolved to "urge the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and all relevant agencies involved in the rescue and recovery operation to intensify efforts towards speedy rescue of the casualties." The House also resolved "to investigate the cause of its collapse and recommend measures to avert further incidents", while mandating "the Committee on Federal Capital Territory Administration to invite the Hon. Minister of FCT to brief the House on steps and measures taken to forestall the recurrence of this incidence." Of the over 70 lives buried by the debris, only two were rescued on that Tuesday. They were dead. Three more had to wait till Wednesday. They too were recovered dead. Others who were seriously wounded were immediately driven to hospitals.

Building hands and experts alike said the massive building which was supposed to be home to 700 shops was virtually built from the foundation up with much sand and little cement. Although quantity of each material could not be exactly determined at press time, reporters and observers on scene all agreed it was one huge and shoddy job done by a deeply callous and fraudulent contractor. Before its collapse, it was also learned that the builders had noticed a crack on the building, and its thin pillars which were visibly fragile, even though the contractors hired about 200 builders, each of them taking home on a daily basis N1,800.

Also disheartening was that even when officials of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), NEMA, Federal Fire Service, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Vehicle Insurance Office(VIO) and the police arrived the scene, they could do virtually nothing to save the situation. No government bulldozer hit the scene, except bulldozers of Dantata & Sawoe, Arab Contractors and others from Bulet Construction Nigeria Limited which arrived at exactly 6:16 p.m., shortly after the Chairman of Bulet himself appeared on the scene. Others at the scene were the minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, Dr. Aliyu Modibbo Umar, the inspector general of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro, the commissioner of Police FCT, Mr. John Haruna, commandant-general, Civil Defence Corps, Dr. Ade Abolurin, Bida, chairman, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Zephaniah Jisalo and Hon. Philip Tanimu Aduda.

The FCTA minister, who is billed to appear before National Assembly members, though talks tough, there is no guarantee that the same tragedy would be averted in the near future. This minister, like his predecessor, goes with a swagger, pontificating about what is best for the Federal capital. After describing the said incident as sad for Abuja and Nigeria, he went ahead to threaten that government would drag the contractors to court after due investigations.

But, sadly, we have heard too many empty talks before. The question to ask is: Where was the FCTA Department of Development Control when the builders set out to build on that space? Where were officials at the Development Control Office when even laymen feared the building stood an imminent danger to lives?

How come, a seemingly solid building, standing opposite the collapsed building was marked for demolition, leaving a glaringly wobbly one untouched by a demolition warning? There was just a pinch of respite when news came later on Wednesday that the Minister of FCTA, instead of sacking his assistant director, building permit, Mrs. Amina Egella and its district officer, Utako, Mr. Umoru Halilu, only suspended them. But the minister's special assistant (communications), Mr. Diran Onifade, told reporters that the developer was severally warned to stop work on the site, but he defied the order of the FCTA, until the tragedy occurred. "Preliminary investigations so far show that the building belonging to Exposee Nigeria Limited was being constructed on Plots 230 and 1161, POW Mafemi Crescent Utako. The company directors include include Jimmy Davies of Plot 1154, Sirass Crescent, off Aminu Kano Crescent, Wuse II Abuja; Casafina Trading Company," Onifade said.

He added, "Plot 230 was originally allocated to Exposee under the Accelerated Development programme of the FCTA on December 5, 2005. Exposee got building approval only in respect of Plot 230. However, the company went ahead to extend the building to adjourning plot 1161 which is for residential purposes, in violation of the terms of the approval. Stop-work notice was immediately issued when it was found that the two plots were merged. Series of notices were then issued to the developer as follows: August 13, 2007-stop work notice; September 20, 2007-quit notice; December 4, 2007-demolition notice. However, the company, in defiance of the several notices to stop work, continued building until the unfortunate collapse of the structure."

The commissioner for insurance, National Insurance Commission of Nigeria, Mr. Fola Daniels, said the building was not insured. His words: "Section 64 of the Insurance Act, 2003 makes it mandatory for any person constructing any building of more than two floors to be insured with a registered insurer. Section 65 makes it mandatory for every public building to be insured with a registered insurer against the hazard of collapse, fire, earthquake, storm and flood."

Mr. Michael Attahiru, president, Abuja chapter of the Builders Association of Nigeria (BAN), said the quality of materials on site were poor. "You can see the quality of materials on site. If you carry it and feel it in your hands, you will notice that it is sand and no cement. One major cause here, apart from the structural design is that work was not handled by a qualified builder. If he is a registered builder, this kind of thing cannot happen.

"This building is not constructed by anybody who is in the construction job. He is not a builder, he is not an engineer. He is a quack. That is why he will use 12mm rod instead of 26mm for pillars in a four storey-building. Look at this house, there is no expansion joint. Look at the conditions of the concrete, this is not concrete. Even if he is a makeshift engineer working on site, he will not cast this kind of concrete," Attahiru stated. The director general of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON, Dr. John Akaya, on Wednesday, also dispatched a team from the organisation to pick samples of the materials used for the building for testing. But the question still being asked is, after the blame game and routine investigations, would the government mete out punishment to serve as deterrent?

Bankole had, in a statement he issued on Wednesday, called on the executive to prosecute anybody found to be a culprit in that tragedy, with the hope that at the end of the day, the Federal Government would not pass the buck, when the sad incident happened under its watch.

Among the governors who sponsored the publication of messages congratulating Yar'adua on his 'fake' birthday that fateful Wednesday ncluded that of Niger, Bayelsa, Imo, Sokoto, Rivers, Plateau, Kwara, Ekiti, Enugu, Katsina, Benue and Edo states. Like the Information and communications Minister, Odey, the Senate President, David Mark, whose fate was then hanging in the Court of Appeal, Jos, was among the top

government officials who also placed adverts rejoicing with the president. The Chief Executive Officer of the Ibeto Group, Mr. Cletus Ibeto who only got back his cement import licence after Yar'adua's ascension to power last year after it revoked by Obasanjo's administration, was among the first private organisations to congratulated the president on July 9.

Others were Arab Contractors, O.A.O Nigeria Limited and Alhaji Bashir Adamu of IMAD Group, CCECC, Setraco, United Cement, Chikason Group, News Engineering, Intels and First Inland Bank. The former Peoples Democratic Party's former Board of Trustees Chairman and Obasanjo's regime Mr. Fix It, Chief Tony Anenih and former Nasarawa State Governor and current Secretary of the PDP's BoT, Abdullahi Adamu were the prominent politicians who placed adverts.

Weekly Trust findings further revealed that, out of the over 100 coloured pages sponsored messages published in the national dailies marking Yar'adua's 'birthday', the SUN had the highest share of 19 pages followed by This Day 13 and Leadership 10. The Daily Trust got 9, Punch 7 1/2, Daily Independent 7, Vanguard, The Nation, New Nigerian and The Guardian 6 pages each and Tribune, 5. Governors of Kaduna, Bauchi, Kebbi, Ebonyi, Zamfara, Adamawa, Borno, Oyo, Taraba, Akwa Ibom and Abia states among others published their congratulatory messages between Thursday 10 to Tuesday 15. Out of the 100 published messages, only 15 pages were placed by private individuals and corporate bodies.

The national dailies have as a result of the anniversary confusion realised N34,074,246.00 while their advertisement rates range from N270, 855.00 to N386, 820.00 per colour page. The brewing confusion was later halted when the Presidential spokesman Segun Adeniyi declared that the president's birthday was August 16, not July 9 as hitherto believed.