"The number of dead is 23," a Red Cross official told AFP by telephone from Abuja.[break] "We have the figure of injured at 11 and most of them are receiving treatment in various hospitals."
The collapse early Wednesday involved a half-built three-storey building that authorities said had been declared structurally unsound, but residents said around 50 people lived there.
National Emergency Management Agency deputy director Daniel Balarabe Gambo said that residents had been warned the building was unsafe and been told to leave but refused.
Survivors who jumped out of the building as it began to shake denied receiving any warning.
Building collapses are relatively common in Nigeria, mainly due to the use of sub-standard materials and violations of construction regulations in a country that has long been tainted by corruption.
Minister for Abuja Bala Mohammed said on national television that it was the third building collapse in the city since he came into office three months ago.
Government officials have pledged to better enforce construction codes since the collapse, while Gambo said police should be called in to vacate buildings deemed unsafe.
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