An hour rain, accompanied by strong winds and hails, on Tuesday night uprooted trees and fell many giant advertising billboards in Abuja.A NAN correspondent, who went round the city on Wednesday, also observed that some electricity poles and street lights had fallen.

The correspondent reported that three major billboards at Karu Junction were pulled down.Some PHCN electricity poles fell in Lugbe, a satellite town, leaving the area in darkness.

Roofs of some residential buildings were blown off.Mr Adamu Abuja, the Deputy Director, Amenities and Aesthetics, Department of Development Control, Abuja Metropolitan and Management Council (AMMC), said the body had begun an investigation into why the billboards fell.

He said the council had been supervising the erection of billboards in the city, adding that it considered many factors before billboards were erected to avoid damage to lives and property.

“We are carrying out investigations to know the root cause of the problem because at times, some of these problems are natural and there is nothing one can do about it.

“We cannot just assume until thorough investigations are done so that we will know whether it is a professional error or not.”

He said that the engineers, handling the erection of billboards, must be registered with the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), stressing that “companies must go through a registered COREN engineer before approval is given to embark on billboard erection.”

NAN