One Building Collapse Too Many

There is no better time than now to wield the big stick in the county’s built industry to curb the embarrassing level of building collapses that have caused so many lives with the attendant grief.

Recently, a school building collapsed in Busi Buji community in Jos, North Central area of Plateau State killing, at least, 22 people and injuring over 132 others.

Most of the victims and survivors were young school children sitting for their end-of – term examination when the building caved in on them.

The tragic incident was blamed on a combination of factors – a weak structure and proximity to a riverbank that overflowed after three days of rains and flooding in the area.

Unconfirmed reports claim that the building owners  were given a demolition notice about 18 years ago in 2006 when it was still under construction, but the demolition order was never effected by the authorities and the owner of the structure continued with the construction.

This was even as the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), the regulatory body governing the practice of engineering, said that Nigeria recorded 22 building collapses between January and July 2024 with 33 deaths.

Nigeria Recorded 22 Building Collapses, 33 Deaths In 7 Months – COREN

In a news conference, the President of COREN, Sadiq Abubakar, disclosed that of those cases, Lagos accounted for 27.27 per cent, Abuja and Anambra 18.18 per cent each.

He added that Ekiti and Plateau followed with 9.09 per cent each and Kano, Taraba and Niger states accounted for 4.55 per cent each.

Records also showed that Lagos takes the lead in the incidences of building collapse as over 91 buildings have collapsed resulting in the death of over 354 persons in Lagos from 2012 to date.

Similarly, in Abuja, about 30 buildings have collapsed from 1993 till date resulting in the death of more than 64 persons not counting the injured.

Evidently, building collapse has become a common recurrence with recent occurrences close to Dennis Memorial Grammar School (DMGS) Onitsha, Anambra State on  June 12, in addition to the Plateau incidence on July 13 , as well as the building collapse in Kubwa, Abuja in July 14.

This newspaper is surprised that this worrisome and avoidable tragedies have not spurred the government to action in such a way that would have pushed it to declare a state of emergency in the sector.

We are of the opinion that many of these collapses would have been averted if building regulations and codes were fully adhered to by both the responsible government agencies and the owners of the concerned structures.

However, and in spite of the negligence of the government agencies and officials, the greed of contractors as well as the obvious impunity of the owners of such death traps, nobody is held accountable. After the platitudinal expressions of regret and commiseration, the nation relapses into complacency waiting for another tragedy to occur.

The influential and powerful in society seem to be  exempted  from scrutiny when it comes to building construction and collapse like what happened in the past in the case of the The Synagogue Church For All Nations and the 21-storey building on Gerard Road, Ikoyi, both in Lagos state.

According to available records on building collapse incidents across the country, no one has been sanctioned for negligence.

We are miffed that  government and other concerned stakeholders continue to ignore this situation that unfolds right before everyone‘s eyes claiming dozens of innocent lives and maiming hundreds of others when  proper planning, strict oversight and adherence to regulations could have prevented the calamities.

We urge the government to act in a manner appropriate enough to demonstrate its willingness to let owners of such defective properties know that there will be consequences for not obeying building codes and regulations .

There must also be consequences for government officials who avail themselves of  orruptive influences and in the process fail to do their jobs meticulously.  If no punishment is inflicted on those behind such poor structures that eventually collapse and lead to the loss of lives, the nation may continue to witness such tragedies in the future.

It was in this light that the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, urged the state governors to strengthen the enforcement of town planning laws to prevent a recurrence of the tragic incident of a collapsed building that claimed the lives of several students in Plateau state.

Indeed, those unfortunate developments call for deep reflection and collaboration of all stakeholders in preventing them from occurring.

While lending our voice to the call by the Senate President , we also call on the governments and other professional bodies in the construction industry to carry out regular inspections and impose penalties for non-compliance with laid down rules while at the same time insisting on integrity tests for all distressed buildings.