With the latest Ikoyi Building collapse, no fewer than 463 incidents of building collapse occurred in Nigeria in the last 47 years (October, 1974 to November, 2021), Nigeria Tribune investigation has shown.
Within this space, the total number of recorded deaths is about 1,132, with an uncountable number of the injured. The figures included the number of casualties from last week’s collapse of a 21-storey building in Ikoyi, Lagos.
According to recent analysis by the former President of the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB), Mr Kunle Awobodu, while Lagos topped other states with 297 incidents, (including Ikoyi building collapse) amounting to 65 per cent of the cases in Nigeria, Lagos Island alone accounted for 67 (23 per cent) of the incident in the state.
Awobodu stated that within the period of 47 years, Abuja recorded 16 incidents of building collapse; Oyo -16 cases , Anambra -15, Kano -9, Ondo -9, Abia- 9, Kwara -8, Rivers-8, Delta-8, Enugu -7, Ogun-7, Plateau -6, Kaduna -6, Edo -6, Imo -5, Osun-5, Benue -3 and Adamawa -3 incidents.
Others are Ebonyi -3, Niger -2, Kebbi -2, Ekiti -2, Cross River-2, Sokoto 1, Bauchi 1, Akwa Ibom 1, Kogi 1 and Katsina 1 cases respectively.
While blaming activities of quacks and pervasive ignorance for most incidents of building collapse, Awobodu said the outcome of many investigations of collapsed buildings in the country had revealed a prime cause, which is quackery.
He lamented that it should be a matter of concern to all stakeholders that individuals are dabbling into a profession they lack competence.
According to him, the primary motive of those who engaged in quackery was to make immediate pecuniary gains, giving little consideration to the risks involved.
”Quackery in building construction has really turned gains to pains in many homes. Quackery has left on its trail a tale of woes,” he said.
According to him, until quacks involved in cases of building collapse are brought to book to serve as deterrents, building construction work would remain an attractive business for charlatans.
This trend, he said has posed a dangerous phenomenon for the Nigerian nation.
Awobodu explained that those who are engaging in building construction work must be well trained and should keep to the approved standards as enshrined in the National Building Code.
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