There are 7 professionals in the Built Environment sector which include Builders, Town Planners, Engineers, Surveyors, Architects and others. They are trained for different stages in the construction sector but unfortunately some of them dominate others veering into areas they do not have sufficient training not minding the complexities involved in the building production. The collapse of a 7 storey hotel building in Owerri, the lmo-State capital with a Pent-House has once more exposed the infighting among professionals in the sector and poor regulation, OKWY IROEGBU-CHIKEZIE reports
The construction sector has always being fraught with arguments and unhealthy competitions on which profession is the leader in the sector.
While architects believe they are the Leader as they argue the clients meet them first and that their competencies are high and encompassing, builders and others say the competencies in the 7 professional grouping are varied and unique and urged every professional calling to stay in their core competencies.
Observes also say the unhealthy competition among the professionals has led to challenges leading to building failures.
They insist that when you stray into areas you are not trained to do you automatically become a quack no matter the qualification you show-case. Responding to the controversy that greeted recent collapse in Owerri, National President, Nigeria Institute of Building (NIOB), Kunle Awobodu said it once again brought to the front burner the problem of building production management in Nigeria.
He maintained the need for all professionals in the group to stay in their lane and do only that which they have competencies for and also the need for regulatory agencies to always do the needful to preserve lives and properties.
Awobodu narrated how the NIOB chairman, Imo State Chapter Chairman, Collins Nwoko some weeks before the collapse led a road-show round Owerri, sensitising the public on the need to engage professional builders in any building construction in order to prevent building collapse.
He recalled that the General Manager of Owerri Capital Development Authority, Innocent Ikpamezie was reported to have promised to prevent building collapse in the state by ensuring prospective Developers engage Professional Builders to manage building production process on their sites. However, he regretted that the promise didn’t come into effect before the current collapse.
He said: “Investigations conducted on many collapsed buildings in Nigeria revealed that inappropriate management of building production on site has been the major cause. This is because quacks or impostors, who lacked professional competence, have usually succeeded in superintending over the very technical and complex process of building production.
The Owerri building collapse is a clarion call to all Ministries charged with Physical Planning and Urban Development in Nigeria to extend their strict assessment and vetting of building projects beyond building plan approval. Building plans and design documents are, to all intents and purposes, just in the design and preconstruction stage of building projects”.
He encouraged the ministries and agencies responsible for physical planning and urban development to devote greater attention to the practical stage, which is the actual building construction. He also advised that any company or those that plan to handle construction of a building should be thoroughly investigated to ensure that round pegs are inserted in round holes.
According to him the sensitive building production processes should be managed by the Professional Builder, who by his training and Hippocratic Oath will not compromise on standards or competence.
Asked why building collapse has become a recurring decimal, the NIOB boss said: “It is because people without the requisite ability to carry out a task ignore the inherent risk for the tempting, anticipated monetary gains, thereby endangering lives and property.
The delicate process of transforming the architectural, structural and services designs and drawings to satisfactory building products require expertise that professional builders possess”, he added.
The NIOB boss also maintained that when participants in building delivery process abide by their areas of specialisation with a clear understanding of their limitations and refusing to go beyond or exceed the bounds of their training or competence, building owners will definitely get value for their money.
Awobodu insisted the need for a collective intention of Consultants on a building project to ensure that those who will manage the building production process are qualified to do so in order to prevent a collapse that could smear the Consultants’ reputation. He stressed that most clients would not want to invest wrongly if they are sincerely guided.
Using Lagos as a case study to curb the incessant collapse of buildings, he urged building control agencies across the nation to ensure that a registered Builder that could be held accountable for quality production is on site.
On why he is insisting on Builders managing the building process, Awobodu said the fear of loosing ones license if found derelict by their regulatory body, Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON) and the accompanying loss of reputation always make the Builder to be very cautious and fit for the building process.
While urging the government to quickly investigate and prosecute those involved in the building of the said hotel in order to deter quackery and negligence on building sites, the NIOB president further called for cooperation and collaboration amongst built environment professional bodies and other relevant government agencies and organisations to bring to an end this menace of building collapse.
He pointed that passion develops in a human being that is encouraged to perform his or her special and unique role in the society.
Earlier, reacting to insinuations of culpability and absolving their members of wrong doing, the Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA) and the Architects Registration Council of Nigeria (ARCON), whose members were engaged as consultants, stated emphatically their innocence.
ARCON president Dipo Ajayi said: “According to pre-contract agreement, the architectural consultant was approached by the client, who resides in France, to design a 6-floor hotel complex on the land he acquired at the Musa Yar Adua Drive in Owerri metropolis.
On acceptance of the sketch design by the client, he engaged the services of qualified structural and M & E engineers for the production of working drawings and approval documents for the approval process. Architects were also not involved in the approval process as the client interacted directly with the OCDA (Owerri Capital Development Authority)”, he added.
He said the architects involved in the project consequently pulled out of the deal, as the client insisted on adding two floors to the structure.
Arguing their innocence further, he said that informed their pulling out of the project in good time to protect their professional integrity.
The man in the eye of the storm and the owner of a collapsed 7 storey’s hotel structure under construction, with a pent-house, Chinedu Victor Anujuru called for the institution of a judicial panel of Inquiry to determine the remote and immediate cause of the collapse.
Anujuru, who is based in Paris, France, in his statement said the Owerri Capital Development Authority had on the April 17th, 2019, approved 7-storeys and a penthouse contrary to insinuations that the approving authority had only approved six-storey’s.
Anujuru, who spoke through his counsel, former Imo State Attorney-General Soronnadi Njoku, called for the setting up of a panel of Inquiry to unearth the real cause of the collapse of the hotel project.
He maintained that a hasty decision should not be taken by the Imo State Government, making reference to the purported revocation of the Certificate of Occupancy, which would amount to penalising the owner of the building who has invested about N 4.8 billion as his own contribution towards job creation and economic growth in his home state.
According to him, “our client is very worried that some utterances by some people, including the purported interim report by the Nigerian Institute of Architects, appear to be highly prejudicial to a fair, impartial and objective determination of the very important question: ‘why did the building collapse? Our client, being the owner of the collapsed building, is a principal participant in this unfortunate development and it is wrong, unfair and unjust to arrive at conclusions, pass judgment and or take decisions without hearing from him.
It is important to note that he objects strongly to certain utterances and actions of some individuals who appear to cash in on this misfortune for their own selfish ends.
Nnadi said: “We call on the Imo State Government to immediately set up a judicial panel of inquiry because it will have the powers to subpoena and compel the attendance of witnesses, order the production of documents, issue warrants and summons but, above all, create the enabling environment for all the persons involved, including our client, to be given a fair hearing before the Government can then take well-informed decisions on the issues.”
The former Attorney-General maintained that the collapse of the building should not be swept under the rug to guard against such occurrences in the future.
The Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma while visiting the site assured that the contractor and construction firm would be brought to book after proper investigation was conducted.
He said: “This is a very sad event. It is a very serious violation and also to hear that the requisite approvals were not adhered to is yet carelessness,” he added.
