THE number of reported building collapse in Nigeria from 1974 to date is 508, with Lagos State having the highest number of 320, the Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG), has said.
Its past President, Kunle Awobodu stated this at the Tunji Olatunji Annual Lecture organised by the Nigerian Institution of Civil Engineers and the Lagos branch of the association. It had as the theme, ”The role of Professionals in the Prevention of Building Collapse in Nigeria – A call to action.”
He said Lagos accounts for 63 per cent of collapsed buildings in the country, though it has the smallest land area among the 36 states of the federation.
Awobodu, also a former President, Nigeria Institute of Building (NIOB), said: “The alarming rate at which the BCPG record of collapsed buildings in Nigeria is being reviewed makes me appreciate the herculean task facing the updating team of the organisation searching around for news of collapsed buildings.”
He lamented that owners of collapsed buildings usually try to conceal the information to circumvent the confiscation of their land by the government.
For this reason, he said the BCPG records of collapsed buildings consists only the ‘exposed’ or reported ones.
Awobodu said each time a building collapses, built experts in other parts of the world express doubt over the competence of their colleagues in the nation.
According to him, though building collapse is a global phenomenon, the frequency at which buildings collapse in Nigeria has attracted a world-wide concern on the need to assist to improve on its safety performance.
He said concerns expressed by his colleagues in diaspora over incessant building collapse indicate that professionalism is lacking in the industry.
He frowned at the excuse that a collapsed building had earlier been earmarked for demolition by the regulators, saying it gives a negative impression about nation’s professionals and calls on the need to save their image.
Awobodu identified quackery, poor regulation, and weak enforcement apparatus as the bane to building control.
According to him, ‘quackery’ is the predominance of unlicenced designers and builders in the Nigerian building construction sphere. He stressed that it is an indictment on the regulatory bodies and building control agencies.
Lack of capacity, he said, had long been identified as the clog in the wheel of building control.
“Using Lagos State, which is the epicenter of building collapse in the world, as an example, extreme gap exists between the number of buildings and the number of building control officials. In 2007, the then governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, determined to alter the status of Lagos as the epicentre of building collapse in the world, set up a technical committee to reform the Physical Planning and Urban Development Law of the State. The chairman of the committee was an Architect, Brig. Gen. Tunde Reis retd with the Vice- Chairman as Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu the current Governor of Lagos State.
He said being a member of the committee they understudied the structure and activities of the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development for over about two years and identified major challenges in the system. The committee he stated that they decided to compartmentalise the State Ministry into three agencies in order to improve on its efficiency.
He listed them as Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority, Lagos State Building Control Agency and Lagos State Urban Renewal Agency.
On what they found out after he discovered a common sharp practice in the building development sector of Nigeria where individuals present a set of drawings for the building plan approval and a different set for the construction of the same building.
“ In this circumstance, the vetted and approved building plan could be altered in height, length or width on site. Some of our professional colleagues, especially Town Planners, Architects, Engineers and Builders could not exonerate themselves from an act initiated by clients primarily to maximize gains on building spaces, which might in future endanger building and public safety. The advantage of the separation done in the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development was to ensure, through checks and balances, is that officials that approved building plans would be different from those monitoring the construction of such buildings”, he added.
According to him the practice of non-conformance with approved building plans on site was envisaged to reduce drastically. He said when the new Lagos State Urban and Regional Planning and Development Law was accented to by the governor in 2010, the committee foresaw implementation challenges due to the paucity of building plan vetting and building control officials.
He said: “As at then, about 48,000 building sites were in Lagos State and knowing full well that the government lacked funds to employ adequate number of staff for monitoring, notable leaders of the seven built environment professional bodies came together to establish Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG) in 2011”.
He explained that BCPG grassroots focused structure enables professionals in the built environment to monitor new building developments and existing buildings in their localities termed Cells, guided by the stamping ground model that is, where a member resides or works. He observed that BCPG activities is an effective system that yielded useful information to LASBCA officials but that LASBCA officials seem overwhelmed with the avalanche of alerts on distressed buildings and substandard building construction sites and couldn’t cope with all attendant issues.
In his recommendation he canvassed the need and advantage of using construction industry professionals in the private sector to stem the tidal wave of building collapse becoming apparent. He frowned at the negative stance of some of their colleagues that work with the government who see them as an affront and nurse anxiety and fear for their jobs and relevance in their different ministries.
He said: “Although self-preservation is the first law of nature, collective efforts and collaboration are necessary tools that could help restore safety in the Nigerian built environment. With this understanding, the BCPG initiative should not be perceived as a threat to the survival of government officials”, he added.