Builders Blame Development Officers For Increased Building Collapse

Presidents of some of the regulatory and professional bodies in the built environment have said development control officers should be held responsible for most of building collapses in Nigeria.

They made the remarks at a news conference that was organised by Presidents of some Regulatory and Professional Bodies in the Built Environment held yesterday in Abuja.

President of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Mr Ali Rabiu who spoke on behalf of the experts, said 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 collapses which include the use of non-professinals 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 built environment,” Rabiu said.

He stated that all these were the challenges that caused building collapse saying that the body had come up with recommendations that if adopted would address the menace.

He recommended that desk officers at the development control who have the responsibility of approving designs must be qualified as the department must engage qualified consultants.