National President of the Nigeria Institution of Surveyors (NIS), Dr Kayode Oluwamotemi FNIS, has said that Federal and state governments do not monitor the construction of infrastructural projects, including the Third Mainland Bridge that was recently repaired.
He said the act was a clear waste of financial resources as many of the buildings, bridges and dams built by the government have been found to have structural deficits.
He made this known during the 2021 annual luncheon and swearing-in of new executives of the Nigeria Institution of Surveyors (NIS), Oyo State Chapter, which held in Ibadan on Wednesday.
He told newsmen at the event that the 21-storey building that collapsed and killed many people would not have happened if there was proper monitoring, blaming the Lagos State government for not applying the right step at the right time, which led to the untimely death of many workers in the building.
He said the cost of the Third Mainland Bridge was too much for government not to do the needful in the area of proper monitoring and called for urgent laws to make project monitoring a must in all constructions that will be carried out by governments and those embarked on by private individuals or corporate bodies.
“The last building collapse in Lagos made the surveyor community so sad, we are sad because it is something we could have prevented if the government at the Federal and State levels have been serious.
“We have been calling the attention of the government to this issue over time as we have always been having cases of building collapse, but the one at Ikoyi that claimed so many lives have made us cried out the more, especially in Lagos and the country as a whole we made sure we submitted a report to the panel, headed by Town Planner Toyin Ayinde.
“As I am standing here, I can easily tell you that no structure is being monitored in Nigeria, whether already constructed or under construction, so there is no government law enforcing monitoring the construction of our high rise buildings, we are not monitoring our bridges, we are not monitoring our dams and we are not monitoring our roads.
“We are calling on governments at the national and state levels to make laws for us to monitor structures that we have spent billions of naira on, let me give you an example, ask them who is monitoring the Third Mainland Bridge? See the cost of the bridge reconstruction, it is the principal duty of a surveyor to do this and they as well know.”
The outgoing Chairman of Oyo NIS, Surveyor Prince Aderemi Kobiowu, hammered on the need for members to give adequate support to the incoming executives and maintain discipline for the profession to continue to enjoy dignity people accord it.
The newly sworn-in Branch Chairman, Surveyor (Alhaji) Waheed Abiodun, promised to keep up the enviable standard that the past chairmen have entrusted in him and the new executive members.
Present at the occasion was the representative of the Nigerian Army, traditional rulers, wives of the members of the NIS Oyo Chapter and well-wishers.
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Govt not monitoring construction of buildings, Third Mainland Bridge ― NIS boss
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