36,000 buildings likely to collapse in Lagos —Experts

DAYO AYEYEMI reports on fresh demolition in Lagos State. The government says it is doing it in anticipation of the 2021 rainfall. But there are fears.

The Lagos State government has ruled out resettlement of those occupying buildings its agents are pulling down as fresh demolition fever grips the state. This came as leading experts, in a report, claimed that over 36,000 buildings are bound to collapse in the state.

In an exclusive interview with Saturday Tribune, the state Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr Idris Salako, disclosed that the  exercise, which has seen some distressed buildings already pulled down, would continue, to save lives.

He said “no resettlement for tenants of identified distressed buildings for now, but they have been notified to relocate to safe buildings and locations. It is better to save them from building collapse than to wait for the worst.”

He stated that 85 distressed buildings had been demolished across the state in preparation for the rains, though the fear being expressed by many has not been completely allayed by the official assurance.

The coming of the wet season, in the aquatic city, means different things to different people. A case of different strokes for different folks. While many farmers look forward  to its arrival, residents, especially those living on the island and locations prone to flooding, are afraid because of the rising cases of building collapse in their neighbourhoods during the season.

According to some of the residents, this is not the best time to live on Lagos Island due to incessant building collapse when rains arrive. Many of them are afraid, going by  the high number of distressed buildings dotting the landscape and are now calling on the government to ensure that these buildings are evacuated to prevent loss of lives.

They are also calling on contractors working on road projects in their neighborhoods to hasten construction work to allow for a free flow of storm water through the drainage channels.

A resident, Mr Mubarak Gbajabiamila, a professional builder, in an interview with Saturday Tribune, said: “We are all afraid that the rain is here again. We are afraid because building collapse is very rampant here during this rainy season.” Besides, he said most of the roads and drainages had been blocked by road contractors who dropped their materials on them. This habit,  he noted, could worsen the flood problem in the area.

He also noted that some drainages had been blocked through indiscriminate dumping of refuse by market women and residents, saying this would further complicate the situation. Gbajabiamila attributed frequent building collapse in the area to poor foundation, lack of drainage, blockage of drainage channel, flooding and use of substandard materials for construction. The resident, who is a member of the Building Collapse Prevention Guild in Lagos Island, said members of the body had gone round to identify some distressed buildings but the political will and administrative power to do the needful rest with the state government.

‘We are hurting’

Saturday Tribune came in contact with relatives of victims of the collapse of a five-storey building at Ita-Faaji, Lagos Island, in March 2019. About 20 pupils died in the incident. With the way they appeared, they were yet to recover from the shock of losing their loved ones in such a horrible circumstance.

One of them, Mrs Omowunmi Balogun, who lost her daughter to the incident, said  she was upset by the rumour doing the rounds that the owner of the collapsed building had been going around to lobby relevant authorities to recover the land and sell it.

“We heard that the owner of the plot of land is trying to get the site back in order to resell it.  This should not happen because we are still in pain due to his negligence,” she said.

Another mother who lost two kids to the building collapse, Mrs Rashidat Afolabi, said she was yet to come to terms with the loss. She said that something should be done on the  building site in memory of  victims of the disaster.

According to a study carried out by some scholars on 49 cases of building collapse in the country between 2009 and 2019, 300 people died in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.

The Lagos State government, through the Lagos State Building Control Authority  (LASBCA), however, said it was not leaving any stone unturned to halt cases of building collapse across the state.

From Lagos Island to the mainland and fringes, LASBCA said it had been combing the areas to stop illegal building development and remove existing distressed houses.

The current aggressive preparation by LASBCA is not unconnected with the fact that the state has remained an epicenter of building collapse in the last 10-20 years, having recorded 130 cases from 2007 to 2013 and 17 cases between 2018 and 2019 respectively.

50 buildings down in Bariga, Igando, Oregun, Island

Speaking on LASBCA’s preparedness, Head, Public Relations Unit, Gbadeyan Abdulraheem, told Saturday Tribune that the agency had already evacuated more than 50 distressed buildings out of over 300 identified across the state.

According to him, most of the evacuated (demolished) buildings were located in Oregun, Igando, Bariga  and Lagos Island. Currently, he said, officials of the agency were removing structures in Bariga. “Throughout the Easter holidays, our men were on the field,” he said.

Abdulraheem said owners of 300 distressed buildings identified across Lagos had been served notices and asked to conduct integrity test on their property, submit the report and demolish them if they fail the test, to avert disaster.

He pointed out that most of the collapsed buildings in the state were usually property without planning/building approval, saying their owners refused to seek building permit or bother about stage certification during construction process.

He urged those who want to build houses in the state to follow the normal process by seeking planning approval and building permit, adding that the agency has also commenced removal/demolition of buildings under high tension cables, drainage channels and roads’ Right of Way.

How to obtain permit

Abdulraheem’s counterpart in the Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority (LSSPPDA), Mrs Abimbola Umen, spoke elaborately on securing approval.

She stated that some of the requirements for planning permit include five sets of architectural drawings; five sets of structural drawings; five sets of mechanical and electrical drawings (for special application); a letter of supervision from Council of registered Engineers of Nigeria (COREN) for the structural drawings and other relevant drawings; land purchase receipt/title document duly certified by Land Bureau which could be: (a) Certificate of Occupancy /land certificate; (b) governor’s consent to lease or assignment/land conveyance/other instruments recognised by law; (c)  evidence of payment of Land Use charge or ground rent where applicable; (d)  purchase receipt duly stamped, copy of soil test report with all pages duly signed and sealed by design engineer; Environmental Impact Assessment Report (this is applicable to commercial, industrial, place of worship and residential developments of more than eight family units, duly prepared by registered town planners), among others .

Listed for destruction

This is not the first time the state authorities are identifying distressed buildings in the metropolis, having discovered some 136 buildings in Lagos Island division in 2018, and another 60 weak structures in Ikeja division.

During the enumeration carried out by LASBCA, 33 distressed buildings were uncovered in Badagry division while 29 of such, again, were discovered in Ikorodu division and 25, in Epe division.

The report of the Abimbola Ajayi-led panel of enquiry to unravel building collapse causes in Lagos in 2013 stated that 130  buildings collapsed in Lagos State between 2007 and December 2013.

According to the report, while the provisions of the laws regulating the building industry were adequate, weak implementation by the relevant government agencies, flagrant abuse and deliberate flouting by the public, crass indiscipline and gross corruption by all and sundry rendered them ineffective.

Also, figures obtained from the Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG), an advocacy group of built environment professionals, showed that Lagos had the highest figure with 17 cases, accounting for about 39.53 per cent of the total number of collapsed buildings.

According to the figures, 59 per cent of the collapsed buildings in Lagos State in 2019 were existing structures while 41 per cent were under construction; seven of the cases were full collapse and 10 were partial.

Building collapse, a major problem in Nigeria, has claimed many lives especially in Lagos, which has the largest population of residents in the country.

Between 2014 and 2019, building collapse sustained an upward trend, according to experts in the built environment. The BCPG, in 2019, revealed that 36,000 potential collapsed buildings were waiting to happen in Lagos alone. Although there have been efforts to contain the menace, recent statistics show that the problem of building collapse may be on the increase.

‘Why buildings go down’

Identifying major causes of building collapse, the built environment professionals listed poor procurement process, bad design, faulty construction, foundation’s failure, extra loads, use of substandard building materials, use of quacks and shoddy workmanship, among others.

They argued that building collapse could also occur due to natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, cyclones and fires.

President of the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB), Mr Kunle Awobodu, disclosed that inquiries into many cases of collapsed building had identified inappropriate management of the building production process on sites as a major problem.

He explained that the interwoven complex activities of building construction required expertise in their management, adding that “the expert to handle this delicate process is the trained and certified builder who has been licensed by the Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON).”

Awobodu added that the loophole in the law and development process that is being exploited to promote quackery on building sites, especially in Lagos State and Nigeria in general, is another factor.

“The third factor in this series of building collapse is lack of accountability and failure to bring culprits to book. There have been many  building collapses in Nigeria. Conservatively, Lagos accounts for about 60  per cent of the figure of collapses,” he said.

As revealed in NIOB record, Awobodu stated that most of the buildings that collapsed in Nigeria lacked professionalism in the production and construction process and its management.

“This is an aberration and an affront on the law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that recognises a trained and licenced professional (the Professional Builder) to handle and manage the construction and production processes of every building,” he said.

According to a report by Firehouse.com, signs that a building will collapse include previous fire damage; windows, doors, floors and stairs out of level; sagging wooden floors; excessive snow or water on a roof; cracking noises coming from a building; interior collapse and plaster sliding off of walls in large sheets.

The way out

Awobodu maintained that there was the need for the Nigerian government to get rid of quacks on building sites, while asking states to prioritise the safety of lives during and after construction by having laws and regulations that meet or exceed the basic minimum requirements of the National Building Code.

He said: “The use of experts in their various areas of competency in the entire building project delivery chain, that is, from design to construction and even, post-construction should be upheld. Builders are the experts in the technology of building construction and maintenance. They manage the processes to achieve safe, sound, functional and economical buildings which all stakeholders, professionals and non-professionals alike desire.

“A nation without building code leaves its construction sector to the whims and caprices of quacks and emergency profiteers,” he said.

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