A group, Building Collapse Prevention Guild, has emerged to tackle building collapse. In this interview with Seyi Odewale, its President, Kunle Awobodu, a chartered builder, speaks on how to tackle the menace.
What is your impression on the building that collapsed in Lagos?
For some years, Ebute-Metta, Lagos has been identified as a citadel for potential buildings that would likely collapse; a place for weak buildings because it has always accommodated substandard constructions, especially through developers. Developers from Lagos Island that have constructed substandard buildings on Lagos Island have moved to Ebute-Metta because of its proximity. So, Ebute-Metta has also become a sensitive location; an area we have identified as susceptible to building collapse.
Having observed the challenges of building collapse for some years and studied the trend, the bottom line is that the government does not have the capacity to address the causes of building collapse.
Have there been identifiable causes for such?
There are many, for instance, some of the buildings constructed on Lagos Island and Ebute-Metta were not based on sub-soil investigation, which is soil test. There were no geo-chemical reports. It was just based on gambling as it were, using raft foundations in some cases and at times path foundations. And the nature of plots of land is different; very erratic. They could not expend little funds to conduct sub-soil investigation before embarking on construction. That is one.
Number two is the issue of design. Those who design for them are probably quacks. Both their architectural and structural designs are questionable, but the most critical one is the structural design, which has to be determined by data. When you are talking of the foundation now, the structural design must be based on empirical data obtained through sub-soil investigation. So, that is a serious missing link. In essence, the design might be faulty.
In most cases, these people copy and repeat designs. A particular design they used at a site some two years back May be repeated at another site not considering the variation, the gradation and the suitability of that design to that environment.
Another issue is that at the time of construction professionals are not engaged. They used quacks to save costs.
Do you mean quacks as artisans or work men?
Some people because they had witnessed building construction in some areas may think that the same experience is applicable in other locations. Those ones are quacks; they have no prerequisite qualification to execute such jobs. So, we go ahead to identify substandard and inferior materials. In most cases when a developer knows that if a building is temporarily owned by him, he will want to try and maximise profit as long as he has the property in his care. He would not want to commit too much funds into it since he knows that it will not be his own for life. He may even use sub-standard materials to maximise profit.
Poor workmanship is another serious factor. This is because they are trying to save cost. They will hire those they will pay peanuts to, not well-trained artisans to do the work for them.Then there is the problem of poor supervision or none supervision of the work.
At the same time, there is also the problem of change of use after the construction of the building. The building, initially, might have been designed for residential use only to turn it to commercial use after completion. In the plan it will not be stated that it will be used for commercial purpose because commercial buildings are very expensive. So, their drawings will never state it and it will not be taken into consideration in respect of axial load or any type of load the building may eventually carry.
Maintenance is another serious issue, which they don’t pay attention to after construction. I’m sure the Ebute-Metta building that collapsed must have exhibited certain cracks. If proper maintenance was done on the building, it would not have collapsed it way it did.
The government, on its part, has not been monitoring construction of buildings. They just give approvals. They don’t do monitoring.
But the government cannot be everywhere?
The bottom line is that the government should ensure that construction professionals are employed to supervise construction works. The process of construction production must be ascertained to comply with what we have in the regulation. Our concern over the years is that while we are lamenting over the collapse of a building in an area, the irony is that similar buildings that will likely collapse in future are being constructed unmonitored everywhere. So, why do we cry over spilled milk? We foresaw these challenges.
Was there not any alarm system to alert the government and the people, especially the one that came down recently in Lagos? One would have expected those in the construction industry to have noticed such a building and raised the alarm?
Your question is very fundamental. That is the essence of establishing a body like the Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG) – to use our professional and numerical strength to assist the government in identifying weak buildings and alert them. And that is what we have been doing. For instance in Lagos State, BCPG has divided itself into cells along the 57 local councils and local development areas where we have our members. What we do is to go out after their meetings and identify buildings that are not suitable for human habitation. We will take photographs of such buildings and send them to Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, but the rate of responses has been low. This is because the ministry is grossly understaffed. In that ministry they have only 20 engineers and 15 builders. How many areas are they going to cover in a vast area like Lagos?
So, the government is not committing enough resources to that. In developed countries, where they have building control agencies, such agencies do generate income for their government. Such agencies can sustain themselves, because from all the charges of plan approval and monitoring certain amount would be allocated to monitoring of projects. The ministry, I understand, needs to recruit more staff, but we all know the challenges of government. There is an embargo on employment; and sometime ago when 200 site inspectors were recruited, how many of them were construction professionals? Their employment was based on favouritism, political affiliation and patronage. The problem is not being properly addressed. BCPG’s establishment is to form a platform where all these recommendations we have offered government can be pushed in a pressure group.
We have also recognised a fact that a lot of noise is made when a building collapses, but after about two weeks nobody says anything again. So we should start raising alarm. Wasting energy on rescue mission, filtering away resources towards rescuing people should not be our priority. What we are saying in essence is that we should be more proactive.
One would have expected your cell in Mainland to have noticed the building that collapsed. Was there any report made about the building?
For long, the government has identified over 100 buildings with such serious conditions in Ebute-Metta that are yet to be brought down. Mind you, it is expensive to demolish a structure and there is the problem of accommodation in the area. Before you move out of a room, many people are already on queue to take over that room. I remember not long ago, when we had a project around that Otto area, it was so difficult to get accommodation for our people.
The Mainland cell of BCPG under the leadership of Mrs Nike Lanre-Ladelegan, was at the site of the collapsed building where she seized the opportunity to take Lagos State Building Control Agency to a site we have complained about, which the owner has kept on patching. The agency saw the building and stopped work on. And that would not be the first time. Not long ago, the government stopped work on a project on Ibadan Street, Ebute Metta. We have noticed a lot of such buildings in the area that the government needs to work on. Let me ask you this question, where do we start from? We were coming from the Island and passed through so many buildings that are not fit and they were erected by developers. It is glaring to everyone that the buildings cannot stand the test of time and people are still living in them. In my opinion, Lagos Island and Mainland should be declared disaster zone. Most of our members have reported times without number and nothing is being done. The Lagos State government is supposed to declare an emergency in those areas, because more buildings are still going to collapse. There are other areas like Mushin.
Don’t you think that age must have taken a toll on those buildings?
That is not true. There are buildings built over 200 years that are still standing. In developed countries they have building constructed over 800 years ago. On Lagos Island buildings constructed by Brazilian Emancipados are still standing as nothing is happening to them. The truth is that we took things for granted. There was a free reign of malpractices in the industry. Quacks took over. BCPG is now poised to push out quacks from the industry.
What allowed for quacks? Were the professionals sleeping when the quacks came?
The fact that everyone aspires to own a house because shelter is one of the primordial needs of man. But ignorance has formed one of the major factors of building collapse. This is on the part of owners of the buildings who choose not to engage professionals to do the job for them.
Looking at the cumbersome nature of seeking approvals for buildings and the involvement of professionals, building owners would rather prefer a faster and less rigorous means of erecting their buildings. Hence, patronising those who would not make the process difficult for them and there is the possibility of compromise by those to execute the project even when a building owner is ready to follow the normal process…
That is the reason behind our effort in advocacy. Our slogan is ‘Hammer on the important’. Engaging somebody who will be held responsible if something goes awry during construction is the essence of our advocacy. So, when you have the professional who will append their signatures on the project they are handling, this then requires them to be very cautious. You don’t take a job and go to sleep or take a job and put a fledging professional on it. Then if problem comes your certificate would be seized. Professionals have become more careful. It is not good for one to embark on a building project without having someone to be held responsible. No professional in the construction industry would like a client to bring his case before his colleagues who are members of the same professional body. Professionals must be careful not to embark on projects that may dent their image.
