Relevant professionals have attributed frequent building collapse in Nigeria to the involvement of quacks, use of substandard materials, non-implementation of building codes and ineffective monitoring of building approvals by government agents.
The professionals, including engineers, town planners and surveyors, explained the reasons for frequent building collapse in the country in a survey conducted by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in the South-South.
The respondents also suggested ways of curbing the menace which has led to the loss of many lives and huge material resources across the federation in recent years.
One of them, Engr. Pius Okpa told NAN in Calabar that most buildings were collapsing due to wrong and poor designs from some quack engineers operating without licences.
Okpa, former Chairman of Nigeria Society of Engineers in Cross River, said that most people had a way of transferring building plans seen elsewhere to other locations, without taking into cognisance specifications, such as depth of foundation.
“A building that was properly designed in Lagos and transferred to another location can still fall because the person transferring the building may not know that the foundation should not be the same in the new location.
“Another reason is the knowledge of the contractor because most people cannot interpret building designs and this may lead to collapse of buildings,” he said.
He advised those wanting to build to always hire the services of professionals and avoid patronising unqualified builders to prevent their buildings from collapsing.
Okpa advocated that every building that was to be erected must be approved by the different professional bodies and relevant government authorities.
The Assistant Secretary, Nigerian Institution of Surveyors, Cross River branch, Engr. Kalita Aruku, corroborated Okpa’s view.
Aruku said that most building collapsed largely because of the failure of some building engineers to carry out good tests on the soil texture and do geological surveys.
According to him, if such tests are carried out before building, they will help to reveal to the engineer the side of the building that requires re-enforcement at each stage of the construction.
He condemned the attitude of some government agencies that give approval to building plans and fail to do follow-ups to ensure compliance.
In Port Harcourt, a building engineer, Chris Dibia, attributed incessant building collapse in the country to hiring of fake engineers by building owners and the use of substandard materials.
“Government and building clients should give attention to safety factors in building. Soil tests should be conducted and they should also ensure that the right materials are used for building,” Dibia said.
He said that government should begin to punish those who engage quack engineers to build houses for them in order to cut costs.
“I expect that the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) will live up to its responsibilities and hold each party involved in building collapse responsible for the damage.
“The life span of any building should be up to 50 years, but with what we have on ground, l don’t see most buildings lasting for 50 years.
“I will rather say that the integrity of any building that is up to 15 to 25 years should be checked.
“If we find out that there is a bench disaster coming, we should send an alarm to the occupants of the building and also alert the regulatory body to do the needful before any tragedy,” Idibia said.
Also contributing, the Federal Controller of Housing in Delta, Mr Victor Uduokhai, said that government enforcing building laws and prosecuting violators would curb the menace of building collapse in Nigeria.
Uduokhai said in Asaba that people would do the right thing if they knew that government would punish them should their building collapsed.
He also noted that buildings frequently collapsed in the country because most people engaged quacks instead of professionals in building construction in order to cut corners.
“It is not that the regulating bodies have not done anything. They have come up with so many policies but the issue is that enforcement is lacking.
“There are many reasons why buildings collapse; it could be that a professional is not used or somebody wants to cut corners.
He noted that the Federal Ministry of Housing worked with specified standards in line with building codes, adding that there had not been any incidence of collapsed building against the ministry.
“In Delta we have federal housing schemes in Asaba, Warri, Kwale, Issele-Azagba and all over the country, but have you ever heard of building collapse in federal estates?
“This is because we take necessary steps in erecting buildings. For you to commence development of any building, there are regulations you follow,” he said.
Uduokhai advised that government should ensure enforcement of building regulations and codes as well as prosecution of all voilators to stem the tide of building collapse in the country.
According to him, the government should not stop at prosecution only, but take over the land on which the building collapsed to serve as a deterrent to others.
A builder in Yenagoa Engr. Festus Menidin, said: “two things should be considered when you are forming building foundations – the solidity of the soil and the heaviness of the building with its contents.”
He urged owners of buildings to always use qualified professionals in construction and avoid cutting cost.
Another respondent and Chairman, Town Planners Association, Edo chapter, Mr Inanigie Abudu, called for collaboration among different professionals in the building industry to curb the menace.
Abudu told NAN in Benin that synergy among the professionals was necessary because negligence on the part of one would affect the work of the others.
“In the built environment, we have various professionals who have specific roles to play.
“We have the architect who designs a building and we have the town planner who examines the site initially to establish the suitability of that project in that site, whether it is compatible or not and advise accordingly.
“Equally, we have structural engineer who determines based on the type of building being proposed, the integrity of the soil.
He should be able to determine how many floors to be taken and the strength. If it is a structure that is going to be high, it will be required to do a soil test to establish the integrity.
“That is why I call for collaboration among the profession because each has a role to play at one stage or the other,” he said.
On enforcement of building regulations he said: “In most cases, we observe that approval process for site construction is defective because many of these agencies lack appropriate professionals.
“They don’t have adequate manpower and what government looks for is revenue whereas planning is supposed to be a social service.”
Meanwhile, Mr Stanley Abohi, an official of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Benin Area Office, said Edo government had set up a team in collaboration with the council, to monitor building construction in the state.
Corroborating the views of other respondents, a town planning expert in Uyo, Mr Uffot Akpabio, said that the use of quacks and lack of monitoring were the major causes of building collapse in the country.
Akpabiow, who represents Akwa Ibom in the Town Planning Council of Nigeria said: “One of the major cause of collapsed building is the engagement of quacks in the industry.
“Poor monitoring of building construction is part of it and don’t be surprised most of the most of buildings that have collapsed don’t have approvals.
“Even when there are approvals they are not well monitored to ensure compliance.
“When a specific number of floors for a storey building is approved, they go ahead and build beyond specifications.”
The town planner urged government to strengthen the laws to ensure strict adherence to specifications, and have defaulters punished as deterrent to others.