Category: Property

Roads are part of the pivotal infrastructure that will determine the pace and direction of economic recovery and reconstruction. With lack of funding, governments are supporting public-private partnerships (PPPs) to expand and maintain the road network.

To this end, PPPs have presented a model, which has been implemented with great success across Nigeria. In Lagos, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has committed the government to the promotion of aggressive infrastructure investment and supporting its delivery.

He has on several occasions said building a modern, sustainable and reliable infrastructure is critical to raising growth rates and offering opportunities, and facilitates investment in human capital development.

To this end, private sector companies such as Alaro City are partnering the state to inaugurate well-planned and maintained roads to accelerate growth. Alaro City’s Construction Manager, Femi Akindele, said the company has completed its main boulevard, stretching eight lanes.

He described it as the widest PPP-owned road in Africa and marks another historic milestone for Lagos’ new city. When completed, he said, the boulevard symbolises the remarkable infrastructure development in Africa and Alaro City’s economic strength within the Lekki Free Zone.

He said: “We adopted the best global standards with storm drainage and greenery systems, as well as cycling and pedestrian lanes. Same as everything else we are building here, our main boulevard, which is being constructed by Craneburg, meets the highest international standards and will be seen as a model by other players in the industry.”

 “Our second major road, the main boulevard, also plays a critical role in creating access to several parts of the city’s residential, commercial, and light industrial zones.’

 “More than 60 local, regional and global companies are operational or under development in Alaro City, signaling the city’s rapid infrastructure rollout since development started in 2019.”

The companies that are based in the city, he said, include BUA Group, Kenol FZE, HMD, Mantrac Caterpillar, Ariel Foods, Sana Group and Sterling Healthcare.

Quakes are natural occurrences but the one that occurred in Turkey and Syria has been attributed to negligence and corruption among government officials, builders and contractors. At the last count, over 33,000 people were confirmed dead and few pulled out alive after about six days. Experts say Nigeria is not immune to earthquakes as they recall tremors that occurred in several states before, including parts of Oyo, Bayelsa, Rivers, and Kaduna. They fear that in a country where people get away with almost anything if it happens here, millions of souls will be lost. Assistant Editor OKWY IROEGBU-CHIKEZIE reports.

IN Turkey, like in Nigeria, there is a programme that allows building owners to pay fines instead of bringing them up to code. The government agency responsible for enforcement acknowledged in 2019 that over half of buildings in Turkey, accounting for 13 million apartments, were not in compliance.

Two contractors held responsible for the destruction of buildings in Adiyaman  in a part of Turkey were arrested at Istanbul Airport while fleeing the country, Turkish  private DHA news agency and other media reported. One detained contractor, Yavuz Karakus, insisted: “My conscience is clear. I built 44 buildings. Four of them were demolished. I did everything according to the rules.”

In web news monitored by The Nation, the respondents believed that corruption and negligence are at the core of the earthquake.They believe that ignoring building codes and government complicity is what led Turkey to this situation. They argued that every country that is prone to earthquakes should have strong buildings.They juxtaposed it with Erzin in Turkey where the earthquake didn’t happen because the town council wasn’t corrupt and insisted on building in compliance with the codes with no illegal building. They stated that only few buildings suffered minor damage, but no collapsed ones, injured or dead people.

Also, a brand new library in Adiyaman built by EU standards survived and it’s a full glass facade structure – not a single pane cracked. So, there is an example that it can be done, they added. Looking at the devastation in Turkey and Nigeria and imagining the probability of the earthquake, it is frightening to say the least.

A former National President of Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG), Kunle Awobodu, and its former National Secretary, George Akinola, an architect, had drawn the attention of the government to a study they did on the possibility of Nigeria experiencing earthquakes and the need for the government to be proactive by reducing the spate of substandard building construction across the nation.

The report noted that mild earthquakes recently occurred in parts of Oyo, Bayelsa, Rivers, and Kaduna states.

The report observed that vibrations accompanying the earth tremors resulted in the collapse of mud houses and infliction of visible cracks in modern buildings within the affected areas. This development has confirmed the possibility of Nigeria experiencing an earthquake in the near future, it stated.

The report stated that the perception that Nigeria is safe or far from seismic active regions is no longer tenable. It said: “Shaki in Oyo State has been subjected to intermittent earth tremors and climaxed in the first week of June 2016. Communities in Bayelsa and Rivers on July 10, 2016 had a similar experience but in this case due to prolonged effect of oil exploitation. Records from the seismological station of the Centre for Geodesy and Geodynamics (CGG) show that the earthquakes that occurred in the Kwoi area of Kaduna State on 11 and 12 September, 2016 ranged from 2.8 to 3.1 in magnitude.

“Shaki and Kwoi towns are located along the Ifewara-Zungeru fault zone, which is linked with the Atlantic fracture system. The fault transcends the Southwest and Northwest of the country, thereby making that stretch of land susceptible to seismicity due to stresses generated within the earth crust, that is, partial reactivation of fossil plate boundaries.”

The study added that earth tremors occurred in Nigeria in 1933,1939,1964,1984,1990,1994,1997, 2000, and 2009 and in 2016. It, however,  argued that a series of earth tremors might not necessarily lead to the high intensity earthquake.

However, a study by Dr. Adepelumi Adekunle Abraham of the Department of Geology, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile- Ife and his team exacerbated the signs as follows, “After the earth tremor of 2009 in Southwestern Nigeria, (which) was felt in several towns and villages in Oyo, Osun and Ogun states, a detailed short-term probabilistic earthquake prediction was carried out by our team, our findings indicated the probability of earthquake occurrence in the study area between the year 2009 and 2028 increased from 2.8 per cent  to 91.1per cent”.

The result also showed that the probability of three events occurring has the highest likelihood within the predicted years. Also, found that the Weibull probability density model predicts a damaging earthquake (Magnitude 5) before 2020.”

He advised that since buildings are the bastion of physical development, which are used to adjudge a nation’s rung in the global socio-economic ladder, investors in buildings should be concerned about the durability of the buildings they are providing funds for.  According to him, the longer a building exists, the more the revenue or value the owner derives from it, a solidly constructed building can stand the test of time.

He cautioned that Nigeria must not continue to repeat the mistake of Haiti and Nepal where stringent building regulations were lacking, thereby aggravating the effects of the earthquakes on buildings. In an earthquake disaster, substandard buildings have been the major cause of high death toll. And, unfortunately, in Nigeria, the National Building Code is not in existence.

Awobodu, also a builder, said in 2016, A 5.7 magnitude earthquake occurred near Bukoba town in Northern Tanzania on September 10, 2016. Furthermore, he noted that, according to the authorities, the fatalities were people ‘in brick structures’ that collapsed.

On the lesson learnt, he responded that from this experience, it becomes imperative to warn prospective homeowners and developers that they should follow due process and avoid quakes. He further advised that the government should pay due attention to building construction from scratch by strengthening ministries of physical planning and development control, and also uphold the tenet of professionalism in the nation’s building industry.

The paper reiterated the need to heed the call made by the Director of Centre for Geodesy and Geodynamics, Toro, Bauchi State, Dr. Tahir Abubakar Yakubu, that the government should establish more seismological stations to monitor crustal movements in the identified earthquake-prone areas.

The paper raised the alarm that a nation without an effective national building code would end up in ruin in the event of an earthquake occurrence. The experts mulled the need for stricter enforcement of building regulations without compromise, adding that it would prevent serious calamity in the future.

He said: “Many nations, including the United States, Japan and Australia have been constructing earthquake resistant buildings in their seismic regions. Nigeria can imitate such preventive measures.”

Also, a developer, Ismail Tunde, asked the Federal and state governments, including regulators in the housing sector to fashion out laws that would guide  development. “Corruption and negligence is at the core of every problem. People usually ignore things until the inevitable happens. It’s always been like this and we just never learn,” he claimed.

Citing buildings that have collapsed as a result of poor regulation and human and material losses involved, he advised that if the implementation of the building code is not done as soon as possible and regulators are made to answer for collapsed a building, which they supervised, the nation will not survive the slightest earthquake.

He said: “Since there is a probability of earthquakes in Nigeria, the government should, as a matter of fact, begin to audit buildings and ensure they are reinforced. Again, for regulatory agencies they should be made to face heavy penalties in case of any eventuality. A situation where people build skyscrapers without approvals and also deny the regulators access to the sites is not good at all. We can only imagine if we have the kind of challenge currently in Turkey there may not be any survivors.”

To avoid multiple disasters, the experts advised that all hands must be on deck to check substandard building materials before it is late.

Public-private partnerships have presented a proven model which has been implemented with great success across Nigeria. In Lagos, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has repeatedly committed the government to the promotion of aggressive infrastructure investment and supporting its delivery.
He has on several occasions confessed that building modern, sustainable and reliable infrastructure is critical for raising economic growth rates and offering economic opportunities and facilitating investment in human capital development.

To this end, private sector companies such as Alaro City are partnering the state in the bid, to inaugurate well-planned and maintained roads to accelerate economic growth. In a chat with The Nation, Alaro City’s Construction Manager, Femi Akindele, said the company has completed its main boulevard, stretching eight lanes wide.

He described it as the widest PPP-owned road in Africa and marks another historic milestone for Lagos’ new city. Currently completing construction, he said the boulevard symbolizes the remarkable infrastructure development in Africa and Alaro City’s economic strength within the Lekki Free Zone.

He said: “We adopted the best global standards with storm drainage and greenery systems, as well as cycling and pedestrian lanes. Same as everything else we are building here, our main boulevard, which is being constructed by Craneburg, meets the highest international standards and will be seen as a model by other players in the industry”.

Read Also : FEC approves three PPP projects for NIMASA, targets $1.1bn revenue – ICRC

“Our second major road, the main boulevard also plays a critical role in creating access to several parts of the cities residential, commercial, and light industrial zones.
More than 60 local, regional and global companies are operational or under development in Alaro City, signaling the city’s rapid infrastructure rollout since development started in 2019”, he stated.

On the companies that have taken residence in the in the city he said they include but not limited to BUA Group, Kenol FZE, HMD, Mantrac Caterpillar, Ariel Foods, Sana Group and Sterling Healthcare, among others.

He also revealed other landmark developments in the free zone, include the new seaport commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari, as well as the recent approval to construct the Lekki International Airport, both located in close proximity to Alaro City, are clear drivers and indicators of value appreciation in the axis.

Managing Director, Alaro City,Yomi Ademola, said that the location of the new city was strategically chosen to contribute to national and economic growth. “Citizens of Alaro City be they businesses or residents, will benefit from the air and sea ports, as well as other significant surrounding infrastructure,” he stated.

A non-govermental organisation,WaterAid, with support from Latter-Day Saints Charities (LDSC), is strengthening water and sanitation delivery in Ikorodu North and Ojodu Local Council Development Areas (LCDA) of Lagos State with $300,000.

Country Director WaterAid Evelyn Mere, said this during at the  unveiling of the project over the weekend.

The project would be providing increased access to clean water, as well as improved sanitation and hygiene behaviour in target communities in the state.

According to her, the $300,000 project, is expected to reach about 10,500 persons with improved access to clean water as well as safely managed sanitation services.

She said other deliverable of the project included key hygiene behavioural change promotion in target communities over the next 12 months.

“It will combine key strategies including service delivery interventions, hygiene behaviour change approaches.

“Institutional strengthening to address acute water and sanitation needs for vulnerable and marginalised communities in the state,” Mere said.

She noted that while the government’s efforts at accelerating water and sanitation access were commendable, Nigeria still had some of the largest gaps in access to water,sanitation, and hygiene (WASH).

According to her, an estimated 68 million Nigerians are without access to basic drinking water, 171 million lack handwashing facilities with soap, 113 million do not have adequate toilets, and 48 million practice open defecation.

She said lack of access to adequate WASH services affects persons with disabilities, women and girls, who spend hours each day fetching water, and unable to work or go to school.

She said poor access to improved water and sanitation also remained a major cause of high morbidity and mortality rates among children under five in Nigeria,

“Lack of access to water, sanitation, and hygiene has detrimental effects on the health, education, economic growth, and development of the population.

“It makes it difficult for communities to practice proper handwashing which is critical to controlling the spread of infectious and deadly diseases,” Mere added.

She said WaterAid would construct and rehabilitate water and sanitation facilites in collaboration with government and civil society partners.

THE Lagos Free Zone Company (LFZC) and the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) have kicked off awareness activities to preserve sea turtles in Lagos.

In a statement, NCF stated that the event held at Magbon-Segun Hall, Okunraye Baale’s house, and Idotun Hall with 115 participants drawn from Magbon-Segun, Okesegun, Ilekuru, Okunraye, Lujagba, Idotun and Itoke communities.

Participants were  taught on the role sea turtles play in the environment, how human activities have affected their population and the possible conservation actions to mitigate the impact of human activities towards the protection of sea turtles.

Among the participants were traditional leaders, youth leaders, representatives and partners, fishermen, and traders.

Some concerns were raised by the attendees, including  availability of protein substitutes for sea turtles, livelihood Intervention, handling accidental by catches, accounting for damaged fishing gears; disagreement on the major causes of species decline; myths and beliefs; the roles of large trawlers in the species decline; actions on captured species; compensation for fishers in the case of damaged nets from accidental catch of turtles.

Some recommendations made by the stakeholders during the session were: continuousengagement with the stakeholders, awareness programmes in the communities to close the identified knowledge gap. This would disabuse the negative perception towards the conservation of the sea turtles; monitoring of sea turtle activities along the LFZC areas to guide conservation efforts; livelihood intervention to deter dependence on sea turtle trade and consumption in the communities surrounding the LFZC; expanding the  programme to other stakeholders utilising the shore and the adjacent habitats e.g trawlers association; collaboration with the Lagos State Ministry of Environment and other relevant stakeholders on sensitisation within the communities; advocacy and enactment of laws in collaboration with the appropriate agencies at community and at state levels; celebrating beach clean-ups and world sea turtle days regularly; research on the roles and intensity of kills by trawlers at industrial levels and locals at community levels; and establishment of a sea turtle research and conservation centre.

NCF is the foremost environmental NGO in Nigeria dedicated to nature conservation and biodiversity resources management.

A key pillar in the 2021-2025 NCF Strategic Action Pillar (SAP) is “Saving Species in Peril”, designed to rescue and conserve threatened and endangered species like the sea turtle.

There has been increased efforts to boost public awareness on the potential of harnessing waste to wealth . Nigerian Institution of Environmental Engineers ( NIE) is helping to optimise the contributions of Nigerians toward sustainable economic growth through building capacities to ensure the sector plays a leading role in the nation’s economic transformation, OKWY IROEGBU-CHIKEZIE reports

African Development Bank is empowering the government and experts in the private sector to collaborate to build a strong economy through harnessing the environment in what it referred to as a circular economy.

Bringing all aspects of the environment together, the bank  summed it up as   driving  inclusive and sustainable development through circular economy.  In support of this, organisations are now powering initiatives to enable the government and the private sector explore  the potential of the circular economy as a response to the triple challenge of the environment, unemployment and poverty, including food insecurity.

The  Nigerian Institution of Environmental Engineers( NIE)  is in the forefront to promote regeneration and  the responsible use of the environment to  support  the nation’s  economy through a circular economy. The institution said the aggregation of derivatives from the environment will enhance  initiatives  to  enhance the sustainability of development and make  the country more resilient to future threat.

 Delivering a paper on Spatial Technology in Development Planning for a Circular Economy in Lagos state, the Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on e-GIS and Planning Matters, Dr. Olajide Abiodun Babatunde, said a circular economy emphasises the sustainable use of resources by minimising waste and maximizing economic value.

He said Lagos, being the largest city in Nigeria and one of the fastest growing in Africa, is facing a number of environmental challenges, including waste management and inefficient use of resources.

Dr Babatunde said: “It’s time for us to take action and find new, sustainable ways to manage our resources. The circular economy provides a solution to these challenges by promoting a more sustainable use of resources and waste reduction.”

Babatunde, who was represented by a town planner,  Daisi Ojo, said spatial technologies, such as Geographical Information System, GIS, remote sensing, geospatial analytics and drones, can provide Nigeria with a wealth of data and information that can help the government make informed decisions about how the nation’s resources are used and managed.

“This information can be used to optimise resource management by identifying areas where waste can be reused, recycled, or recovered, and areas where new infrastructure can be built to support a circular economy.

“Geospatial analytics, which combines GIS and remote sensing data with other data sources, can be used to create models of the waste management system, allowing decision-makers to see the impacts of different waste management strategies and make informed decisions.”

Speaking on, exploring global trends to achieve a circular economy for Lagos state, Executive Vice President, Oando Clean Energies, Ademola Ogunbanjo, said the necessity of circular economy is not a debate but how to entrench it in Lagos State and Nigeria as a whole.

He advocated drastic reduction in consumption by the people as this will indirectly lead to reduction in production activities and ultimately decrease in the extraction of raw materials.

The National Chairman of the NIE,  Sesan Odukoya , an engineer  congratulated the new chairman during his speech, and encouraged both the Chairman and the executives to work on the membership strength through bringing more engineers from Epe axis, Victoria Island, and Ikeja community for the environmental progress.

He lamented that  in a state where we have about 4 million people living in it, nothing is seriously been done to turn waste to wealth.

According to him there  is a need for professional collaboration with a lot of sectors to manage and control the kinds of pollution, human waste, plastic flooding. He encouraged the use  of local content, fabrics to solve societal problems.

He reminded  his audience about  the case of massive flooding recorded last year  in many states especially in Kogi State  and Bayelsa. He argued that though some states were flooded  there are so many ways to make money from those wastes, through the understanding that the plastics can be recycled for a waste to wealth as millions of them floated causing environmental hazards.

The  newly inducted Chairman,  Yusuf Majolagbe said he will  ensure that it execute part of the project to deliver some legal instruments in  environmental laws, as well as working together with the Lagos State Government to ensure that inputs of  environmental sector. 

He  also spoke on the need to incorporate  the input of  Environmental  Engineers  including the protection laws that was approved by the former Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and   to have the legal back up and instruments that will keep the environment safe.

According to him out of the 10,000  tonnes of waste generated in Lagos State, only 30 percent  is adapted to the land field site.

He said: ” What this means  is that there is a problem in the city   because 70 percent of  the state ‘s  waste is left in the  community. To this end, l call on the government to collaborate with the association to  reduce waste in the community,  by  supporting activities directed to promote  the circular economy”, he stated .