Incessant building collapse in Nigeria avoidable

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Temitope Ezekiel Idowu is a registered civil engineer, researcher and academic. His professional and research portfolio spans Nigeria, Kenya, and North America. Idowu, whose studies have proffered solutions to a wide range of topics such as coastal groundwater pollution and seawater intrusion, speaks with SEGUN ADEBAYO in this interview about his career and among other issues.

What’s your feeling about the constant building collapse rocking Nigeria and what do you think is the way out?

My candid opinion about the issue of constant building collapse in Nigeria is that they are external symptoms of the larger deep-rooted problems we are facing as a country. Poor regulations and lack of adherence to standard procedures and guidelines are some of the chief culprits. As a practicing engineer before I left the country, I saw firsthand how every stakeholder wants to cut corners – the clients, the so-called government regulators, the construction workers, the project managers, and the engineers.

Some people have blamed this problem on the professionals not doing their job well. Do you feel they don’t do enough to check this problem?

In some cases, professionals overstep the jurisdiction of their practice. It is not uncommon to see a bricklayer using his informed experience to decide what the size of the structural elements of a building to be with no consideration for detailed calculations or the bearing capacity of the soil on which the building is built. In some cases, you’ll see quantity surveyors acting as engineers on projects. Of course, there is the case of lack of unprofessionalism and disregard for procedures amongst many civil engineers. In other words, most of the building collapses in the country are completely avoidable. We will need to collectively decide as society that we want to become a people who follow due process and this needs to transcend every fabric of the society.

Tell us about your journey to the United States (US) and how life was in Nigeria before you left?

My career trajectory and how I ended up in the US has been quite a ride. But in summary, upon my graduation from the Federal University of Technology Akure in 2012, I worked in the industry for a couple of years. In 2015, I was fortunate to be a recipient of the African Union sponsored Pan African University scholarship to pursue my master’s degree in civil and environmental engineering in Kenya, East Africa. The program was what took me out of Nigeria for the first time ever. After completing the master’s program in 2017, I gained employment as an Assistant Lecturer in one of Kenya’s top technical universities, a role I held for four years till January 2021 when I moved to the US. Prior to my departure from Nigeria in 2015, I would say Nigeria was in a better place economically. For instance, US dollar was trading for 189 naira back in January 2015 when I left but today it has sky-rocketed to over 1000 naira. One positive from this whole drama in Nigeria is that the entertainment industry has grown astronomically and it is amazing how everywhere I go, non-Nigerians are quick to ask me about Nigerian artistes I do not even know yet.

What inspired you to delve into the diverse fields of civil engineering, research, and academia across different continents like Nigeria, Kenya, and North America?

To start with, I was lucky to have great mentors early on in my career. It surprises people when I tell them I was already convinced I would study civil engineering as far back as JSS 2days as a young teenager. The first inspiration came from my uncle who happened to be a civil engineer. Although I was too young to fully understand the different aspects of civil engineering at the time, I had the broad idea that civil engineers built roads, bridges, sky-scrappers and basically had the power to transform a village into a city. However, different influences shaped my interests and the niche I have created for myself over the years. I started off strictly as a structural engineer at a civil engineering firm in Ibadan. I also worked in the transportation engineering aspect of civil engineering but my inspiration to pursue the environmental and coastal engineering aspect of civil engineering came in 2012 or thereabouts. There was this nation-wide devastating flood back in 2012 which claimed hundreds of lives and displaced millions of people, with estimated damages and losses in trillions of naira. During my master’s scholarship in Kenya, I ensured that my research tilted more towards coastal challenges because scholars back there had some liberty on the choice of research topics. As fate would have it, the coastal research at master’s level was what gave me the edge and stood me out for my first academic role as an assistant lecturer after my master’s degree. The snow-ball effect of the research and the subsequent personal and collaborative research covering different topics while I was an assistant lecturer during those four years was also what opened the doors to several PhD offers in the USA in 2020 before I eventually chose to pursue my PhD in civil engineering (coastal specialization) at the University of Delaware.

Can you share some key insights from your scientific findings; particularly those addressing coastal groundwater pollution, flooding, and land-use land cover change assessments?

My scientific articles on coastal groundwater pollution were mostly from an extensive study I conducted in Mombasa, a beautiful tourist port city in Kenya. A major lesson from the study which is equally applicable to other coastal areas around the globe is that the impact of humans on coastal groundwater is far more critical than we think and as sea level rise progresses in the century, intrusion of seawater into coastal groundwater will intensify. Similar observations of the insidious impacts of human activities were made on the flooding study we conducted on Ibadan Nigeria and the land use land cover change assessment we conducted on Lagos.

How do you approach the challenge of predicting and addressing issues related to coastal groundwater pollution, considering its environmental impact?

Science is progressive and no one operates in a vacuum. I usually proceed by reading wide about the challenge, ask pertinent questions like how and when the problem started or became more pronounced? What were the triggers? What groups are most affected or might be affected in the future? Who are the stakeholders and what are the current steps being taken or techniques being used to manage the problem? Putting all these together helps me gain the clarity on what needs to be done and solutions that can be proffered in spite of limitations. For instance, from my research on coastal groundwater in Kenya, I developed vulnerability maps which were delivered to the local water resource management authority.

Are there plans to return to Nigeria to contribute to the development of civil engineering and tackle some of the building challenges we have had over the years?

Yes, there are long term plans of returning to create more partnerships and establishing greater presence in the civil and environmental engineering space in the country as well as in other parts of the continent and globe. The goal is to be a global citizen with presence across different parts of the world, starting with Nigeria. I live by the mantra “the more you empower yourself, the more capacity you are creating for yourself to empower others,”

Can you share insights into your doctoral work at the University of Delaware and how it contributed to your current expertise?

Prior to my doctoral research, most of my research engagements focused on the chemical/water quality expects of coastal engineering and the application of GIS and remote sensing to environmental challenges. So, I decided to explore other aspects of coastal engineering to broaden my portfolio.

My doctoral program focuses more on the physical aspects of coastal engineering such as coastal processes like waves, currents, how sand is transported from one part of the shoreline to another and how they impact livelihoods. My specific research aims to understanding how extreme waves like storms impact solid objects in the nearshore. The research also has broad applications in describing the physics of how solid wastes are transported in marine environments. My doctoral work has helped me to hone other skills like data analysis, coding, handling, and troubleshooting state of the art oceanographic sensors. These are all transferable skills I can redeploy to tackle other challenges like plastic pollution in marine environments.

Can you discuss any collaborative projects or partnerships you›ve engaged in, especially those involving international collaboration?

There have been several collaborations over the years, The most recent one would be my current PhD research which involved collaborating with some researchers in Quebec in Canada. I had to spend nearly 3 months as a visiting researcher at the Institutnational de la recherche scientifique (loosely translated as National Institute for scientific research) conducting research with colleagues from the US, Canada, and Mexico. Some of my long-standing collaborators are the likes of Dr Fidelis Ajibade (FUTA), Dr. Kayode Lasisi (Ocean University of China) and a host of others too many to count.

What are some of the current trends or emerging issues in civil engineering and research that you find particularly intriguing or impactful?

Tackling environmental challenges is becoming more and more interdisciplinary these days. In the past decade, we have done a great job incorporating GIS, remote sensing and modelling into the assessment of the water resources, coastal and environmental aspects of civil engineering. Although there is still a lot to be done, especially in this part of the world. This has helped us conduct studies and create solutions that would have been near-impossible due to the limitations of lack of data, high costs and unavailability of equipment. Moving forward, we are now seeing the emerging areas of artificial intelligence like machine learning and their applications to civil engineering challenges.

Considering your extensive experience, what advice would you give to aspiring civil engineers or researchers looking to make a meaningful impact in their respective fields?

My main advice to civil engineers and researchers is to stay curious and embrace continuous learning. They should also stay open to collaborations with professionals from diverse backgrounds. This will further foster innovation and well-rounded solutions to our ever increasing and complex environmental challenges. Lastly, for those in research, there is as strong need to connect science with society. There is this “publish or perish” culture that seems perversive in academia today but as individuals, we have the responsibility of pushing our research towards making lasting and meaningful impacts on society at large beyond publications.

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