As Sorrows Of Collapsed Buildings Persist, Regulatory Bodies Blame Development Control Officers

The persistent increase in the occurrence of building collapse and lives lost has become a source of national concern.

Only recently, there was a report of a building collapse in Kubwa, Abuja, Kano State and Lagos State.

In a research conducted, it was established that most collapsed buildings were either old residential buildings or quality standards were not followed in constructing the buildings.

It is on this note that heads of some of the regulatory and professional bodies in the building sector, blamed development control officers, saying they should be held responsible for most of the building collapse in the country.

They remarks were made at a news conference organised by some of the regulatory and professional bodies.

President of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Mr Ali Rabiu who spoke on behalf of the experts, noted that development control officers largely contributed to the collapse of buildings in Nigeria.

He however, said this was just one out of other causes of building collapse which also includes the engagement of non-professionals who have no capacity in projects.

“Non-verification of building design, construction done without following strict procedures, availability of sub-standard materials, non-legislation and enforcement of the National Building Code (NBC) by the National Assembly.

“Non-domestication of the NBC, disparity between the design and construction in Nigeria-Physical Planning, construction technology, (casting of concrete, soil test, etc).

“Ignorance, negligence, greed, corruption, abuse in the usage of buildings and the presence of quacks in the building environment,” Rabiu mentioned, adding that the body had come up with recommendations that if adopted would address the menace.

He recommended that desk officers at the development control office who have the responsibility of approving designs, must be qualified.

In September 1, 2022, the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners blamed the alarming increase in the incidence of building collapse, in the nation on the federal government’s poor planning.

President of the Institute, Olutoyin Ayinde, made the statement during the inauguration ceremony of the Ogun State branch of Association of Town Planning Consultants of Nigeria, in Abeokuta.

Ayinde said the Nigerian government lacked an understanding of what town planning was all about.

Ayinde, an urban planner, said the federal government must fund planning and its implementation if there would be a reasonable physical development in Nigeria.

Expressing concern about the nation’s underdeveloped state, he equally argued that the country’s development would continue to be a mirage until the government begins to take the issue of planning seriously.

“Nigerian governments don’t even understand what planning is and until they do that they cannot commit resources. The truth is that there’s nothing we can really achieve without planning so, we must be joking as a nation if we are not funding planning because alternative to planning is chaos which is what we live in.”