Perturbed by incessant building collapse in the country, Executive Director of University of Lagos Business School, Professor Mike Adebamowo, has called for deployment of technology for monitoring of construction sites in the country.
This, he said would help to tame quackery and other root causes of building collapse across the country.
Speaking during the Annual General Meeting of the Building Collapse Prevention Guild in Lagos, Adebamowo, an architect and guest lecturer at the occasion, disclosed that most buildings that collapsed in recent years, including the 21-storey building that collapsed in Ikoyi, Lagos State, on Nov. 2021, did not have experts on site.
The guest speaker spoke on the theme: “Investigating the Political, Socio-Cultural Dimensions of Building Collapse in Nigeria: The Sustainable Pathways for Eradication.’’
He called for restoration of traditional role of architects as the prime consultants, who should work in synergy with the other built environment experts for quality assurance.
“if anything is wrong at the design stage of any project, everything built will be on a faulty foundation and can collapse,” he said
According to him, tackling collapse of buildings would require commitment from building experts, governments, communities and individuals.
“If we don’t go back to basics, we will not be able to address the root cause of the problem,” he added
He expressed thatman-made factors were responsible for nearly all the collapse of buildings that occurred in Nigeria, adding that greed and corruption among property owners, building professionals, artisans and governments must be dealt with in Nigeria for sanity to be sustained in the construction industry.
He said,” Punishment that should serve as deterrent should be meted out to any professionals or property owners who contravene building control regulations or engage in unethical practices that can lead to building collapse.”
He listed heavy fines, forfeiture of professional licence, forfeiture of property and jail terms among the punishments, urging government to adequately fund its regulatory agencies and build the capacity of staff.
According to him, regulators must ensure enforcement of the building codes and implement strategies for stemming collapse of buildings.
He also urged relevant agencies to continuously audit buildings and bridges to detect distress early and avert collapse.
Outgoing BCPG’s President, Mr Eddy Atumonyogo, said that in spite of the guild’s efforts, Nigeria recorded collapse of 62 buildings in 2022, with Lagos State leading with 20.
He consequently called for urgent measures to address the issue. Atumonyogo, who led the guild until election of his successor at the AGM, said that the guild made efforts, including introduction of whistle blowing mechanism to curb the trend.
Atumonyogo was represented by his deputy, Mr Sulaimon Yusuf.
He said that the guild would need to do more toward arresting the situation, listing challenges of the guild to include funding constraints and COVID-19 pandemic, which slowed down its activities.
He said that the guild, however, did its best to tackle the challenges, adding that the guild partnered with governments of Lagos, Ogun and some other states toward effective regulation, monitoring, capacity building and improvements for best practices in construction activities.
Statistics provided by Atumonyogo showed that Kano had seven incidents of building collapse in 2022 while Anambra followed closely with five, and Delta and Jigawa recorded four each.
“The guild still has a lot of work to do in persuading the various governments to collaborate with it in monitoring construction activities to ensure best practices as well as enlighten the investing public on the need to engage competent hands.
“Despite all the efforts in year 2022, there were still a total of 62 collapse of buildings, either partially or fully.
“Twenty-three states had incidents of partial or full collapse of buildings, with Lagos State topping the chart with 20 incidents,” he said.
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