As experts continue to plead with Nigerians to engage professionals for building construction purposes, they blame incessant building collapse in the country on the usage of quacks. Tyavzua Saanyol reports.
Building collapse is one of the structural failures in Nigeria that has claimed many lives, injured many, rendered many homeless and erased investments worth trillions of dollars.
In a bid to address the recurring incidents of building collapse in the country, the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) is reemphasizing the need for the engagement of professionals in building construction projects as a means of preventing future occurrences.
Over the past two decades, building collapse has been on the rise in Nigeria. Within this period, Lagos State recorded the highest number of building collapse cases, having over 60 per cent of the total number in the country.
Though there are many reasons why buildings have been collapsing in Nigeria, factors like the use of substandard materials or wrong measurements in the use of materials, building without approved design, or non-adherence to building plans are some of the major drivers of structural collapse in many cases.
However, SON has insisted that the use of quacks is the major reason for building collapse in the country.
The Chairman, Special Taskforce of SON, Onucheyo Enebi has reaffirmed that if professionals are engaged in building projects, they will follow due process, get the approved design, follow the building plan, ensure the right quality of materials are used as well as the right measurement of materials, thereby reducing the risks of structural failures of buildings.
“Buildings could collapse due to the use of substandard products. It could be due to bad design, the usage of quacks or due to not doing the right thing on the real construction site.
“Of course, before one starts any building on any land, you have to do what is called soil test to know the exact type of foundation to do there. These are things you must consider before trying to start building”.
He explained that professionals know all the necessary steps or what to do before commencing the construction of any building. And while construction is on, adequate professional supervision is offered to eliminate structural defect.
According to Brookings Institute, anecdotal evidence from various government agencies and a review of literature revealed that between 1974 and 2019, over 221 buildings collapsed across various Nigerian cities and more than half of the collapses occurred in the economic hub of Lagos.
“In fact, Lagos experienced 167 reported cases between the years 2000 and 2021, 78.4 per cent of which were residential buildings, 12.8 per cent were commercial, and the remaining 8.8 per cent were institutional buildings. This spate of building collapse displaced more than 6,000 households with an estimated total loss of $3.2 trillion worth of property”.
The Institute also stated that many of the documented cases of building collapse in Nigeria include individuals’ or building developers’ errors of bypassing basic professional procedures of getting building plan approval, engaging the services of unqualified or unskilled builders, the use of defective or substandard building materials, illegal conversion of existing structures, and alterations of approved building permits.
“For instance, regarding the Ikoyi collapse, the general manager of Lagos State Building Control Agency stated that the owners had gotten approval for 15 floors but added six more on top of the original approval” a clear violation of the professional building code.
Again, the Former Director General of the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI) Prof. Danladi Matawal reaffirmed that majorly, building collapse incidents in the country are caused by human error.
In a paper titled ‘Reminiscences of Infrastructural Failures in Nigeria: Building Collapse in Focus’ Matawal said many building failures are associated with materials due mainly to human improprieties involving lack of know-how about the theory of these materials as well as those from irregularity in materials.
“Building collapses are common in Nigeria due to substandard materials, and inadequate supervision in constructing multistorey structures. The incidents in the country have highlighted shoddy construction and violation of the building code, amidst burgeoning demand for housing as well as endemic corruption; and very importantly, quackery.
“From 2011, the number of building collapses witnessed in the country were both disturbing and alarming, with the country’s mega-city, Lagos, recording the highest number of incidences. It was really horrific in the sense that buildings under construction and even some in service for many years collapsed in the state within the period”.
Between 2011 and 2012, collapses were reported in Maryland, Ikeja, Ketu, and other crucial parts of Lagos. Similarly, in 2011, the fast-growing Federal Capital City, Abuja, and its suburbs recorded collapses in some areas which included Jabi and Garki districts. Other areas included Pape and Mararaba.
Other parts of the country where major building collapses were reported within the same period included Enugu where three incidences happened within two weeks. Others happened in Ibadan, Oyo State and Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. Besides a complete structure that collapsed in Sokoto, there was a wall failure of another building in the city which sadly claimed a life.
In 2012, the first recorded major collapse in the country was in Awka, Anambra State, then there was another during a demolition exercise in Gwarinpa, Abuja. Again, there was a collapse of a Church in Benue State and a building in Ilorin, Kwara State.
Some of the collapses were really colossal in terms of lives lost and damages, like the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) building collapse in Lagos, where nearly 200 lives were lost as well as the Reigners Church in Uyo.
In 2018, there were collapses in Lagos, there was the Jabi building collapse in Abuja, a building in Kano, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) building in Jos, the Faculty of Social Sciences building in Benue State University, and the multi-storey hotel complex under construction in Port Harcourt.
In all the collapses, lives were lost, various degrees of injuries were sustained and huge economic losses were recorded. The lives lost and maimed represent colossal losses to the national economy in terms of human resources and potential.
Therefore, the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI) seeks as a preventative measure for building collapse, the display of project sign boards that states specify details like project name, client, project architects, engineers and quantity surveyors.
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This measure is to encourage supervision which is required to ensure compliance and correct anomalous designs if any is lacking. “Supervision will stop undue reduction of sizes of elements (footings, columns, beams, slabs) and encourage structural reinforcement.
“Supervision is a very critical issue that can has an immediate impact because if every structure can be properly supervised by professionals, not quacks, then there will be an immediate and drastic reduction in the number of collapsed structures in this country”.
In this regard, Matawal said professional regulatory roles should be strengthened, “Like the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Engineering Monitoring Regulation (EMR) initiative and the complimentary roles of other professionals in the built environment.
NBRRI also seeks the implementation of the National Building Code by all relevant regulatory agencies as a means of ensuring that due process is followed in the course of constructing structures, specifically, buildings in Nigeria.
Again, the organization noted that certification processes can be initiated by all stakeholders for construction materials using standard laboratory facilities for conducting prescribed tests”.
Similarly, SON has called on COREN and other relevant regulatory agencies in the building construction industry to effectively carry out oversight functions to ensure that the right thing is done at the construction sites within their jurisdiction.
SON is also pleading with Nigerians to engage professionals for building construction purposes. “Most people feel it is very expensive engaging professionals for building projects, so they turn to quacks, but it is actually most expensive engaging quacks”.
Indeed, the use of quacks in building construction projects in Nigeria has claimed many lives and also destroyed many properties worth a fortune, bringing heavy economic loss to the nation.
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