- The Federal Government plans to crack down on substandard school buildings, emphasizing the need for quality construction to ensure safety
- UBEC’s Dr. Hamid Bobboyi highlighted the importance of maintaining construction standards and announced plans for regular inspections of school projects
The Federal Government has announced its intention to crack down on substandard school buildings nationwide. Dr. Hamid Bobboyi, the Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), revealed this on Monday in Abuja during a training session for the Commission’s physical planning staff to enhance project delivery quality.
Dr. Bobboyi emphasized the importance of quality in school building projects, urging stakeholders, including State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs), to ensure that construction standards are upheld. He warned contractors about the severe risks of delivering substandard school infrastructure, stressing that the Commission would no longer tolerate poorly executed projects.
He reiterated UBEC’s commitment to working with SUBEBs to improve the quality of educational structures across the country and ensure a safe and conducive learning environment for Nigerian children. To this end, UBEC plans to deploy monitors who regularly inspect construction sites to ensure compliance with standards.
Dr. Bobboyi highlighted the sensitivity of educational infrastructure projects, noting that they must be handled with the utmost responsibility to protect the lives of students and staff. He acknowledged that funding must be used wisely to deliver durable projects nationwide while funding may be limited.
Reflecting on a recent school building collapse in Jos, Dr. Bobboyi, although clarifying that UBEC did not fund the building, urged state governments to take proactive measures to ensure contractors adhere strictly to project specifications.
“We are dealing with a very strategic sector—children between the ages of 5 and 12, who are very vulnerable in any building collapse. We saw the consequences when it happened in Jos,” he stated.
Dr. Bobboyi also mentioned that UBEC is collaborating with the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI) and the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) to include them in monitoring teams at the state level.
Additionally, the Director-General/CEO of NBRRI, Prof. Samson Duna, supported the training initiative as a proactive measure by UBEC to prevent the frequent occurrence of building collapses in Nigeria, particularly in school buildings.
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