NIOB President attributes inappropriate management, quackery as causes of building collapse
The National President, Nigerian Institute of Building, (NIOB) Kunle Awobodu, has said that investigations into incidences of building collapse in the country reveal inappropriate management of building production process on sites and quackery as major cause of building collapse.
Awobodu spoke at an event organised to remember school children that died in a collapsed building at No 63, Massey Street, Ita-Faaji, Lagos Island on March 13, 2019 and victims of other building collapses in Nigeria.
“The outcome of many investigations on collapsed buildings has identified inappropriate management of the building production process on sites as the major problem.
“The interwoven complex activities of building construction require expertise in their management.
“The expert to handle this delicate process is the trained and certified builder, who has been licensed by the Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria,” Awobodu said.
According to him, following the collapse of the five-storey building, the loophole in the law and development process that had been severally exploited to promote quackery on building sites, in Lagos State in particular and Nigeria in general, was again identified by the panel of investigation.
NIOB National President said the Lagos State House of Assembly took steps to decisively block the loophole through a stakeholders’ public hearing on its physical planning and building control regulations, and the commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development finally signed the regulations.
He pointed out that these steps gave rise to the 2019 physical planning and building control regulations of Lagos State.
Awobodu said, “One of the key parts of the regulations is the correct and unambiguous provision of Section 4, Subsection 2 of the 2019 Lagos State Building Control Regulations which states: “The site execution of every building under construction shall be managed by a registered builder.”
He attributed the main cause of the Ita Faaji calamity to quackery, which he said remained the major cause of several building collapses in Nigeria.
He added that associated with this fundamental cause was negligence with respect to appropriate building regulations and their enforcement on the part of the government. The third factor in the series of building collapse, he said, was lack of accountability and failure to bring culprits to book.
The National President, the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, Olutoyin Ayinde, recounted that the collapse of the building in Ita Faji was a reminder of things that were left undone, actions that were supposed to have been taken and lives that were supposed to have been preserved.
