With tears rolling down his cheeks, a young medical Doctor lamented the preventable death of his female colleague: “On many occasions, the elevator had stopped while we were inside it.
“We report every time. The elevator is supposed to carry 630kg maximum, that’s eight people.
“Once you open the elevator and see two people already, you just have to wait for the next batch.
“It was faulty and they knew about it. That’s why we’re not going to take this. Dr Vwaire Diasso was a very diligent house officer. She was very hardworking”.
Dr Diaso lost her life on Aug. 1, in the faulty elevator that crashed from the 10th floor of the General Hospital, Odan, Lagos Island just two weeks to complete her housemanship.
She reportedly entered the elevator at the Doctors’ quarters, to collect her food from a dispatcher who was waiting for her downstairs.
Stakeholders have observed that the tragic death of Diasso, like many carnages, witnessed on the nation’s deplorable highways, as well as hundreds of casualties of collapsed buildings are preventable and avoidable.
They noted that, for decades, Nigeria has been in throes of collapsed buildings and deplorable highways resulting in carnages.
According to a recent report by the Building Collapse Prevention Guild, Nigeria witnessed a total of 553 building collapses between 1974 and ending on April 13, 2023.
The report, made available to newsmen, indicated that Lagos state had recorded a high collapse with over 326 buildings caving in the last 49 years.
It would also be noted that the most recent of the preventable tragedy was the Aug. 14 collapse of the iconic Zaria Central Mosque, during Friday prayers, which left no fewer than 12 worshippers dead and many injured
Although full investigations had been launched to ascertain the cause(s) of the collapse of the Mosque constructed in the 1830s, but, the Emir of the area told newsmen that a crack had been discovered in one of the walls.
Some of the stakeholders interviewed during a survey conducted by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), noted that facilities management and maintenance were not being practiced the right way in Nigeria.
Dr Samuel Imonikhe, a lecturer in the Department of Building, School of Environment Studies, Auchi Polytechnic, said Nigeria practiced corrective maintenance culture, which allows a total degeneration of infrastructure before undertaking repairs.
The practice, according to him, made the cost of maintenance almost the same as the cost of constructing a new facility.
He underscored the need for the country and construction experts to adopt preventive maintenance culture – a regular routine inspection of infrastructure with the intention of noticing minor issues and fixing them before major ones develop-.
According to him, facility management must be built into every project from the beginning to ensure adequate maintenance plans for facilities throughout their lifespan.
“Why should we allow our roads, buildings and other facilities to degenerate to such bad levels before maintenance?” he retorted.
Imonikhe also called for synergy among built environment professionals to guarantee quality assurance in the construction sector to curb infrastructure decay and building collapse.
To further expose the negative impacts of the corrective maintenance culture being practiced in the country, NAN beamed its torchlight to some iconic public infrastructure across the country, many of which are in deplorable state.
Example is Muda Lawal Stadium in Abeokuta, the first in Ogun state, where a number of world-class soccer stars had played football, but presently in sorry state due to many years of neglect.
Formerly known as Asero Stadium, the sporting facility was renamed in 1992 after Nigeria’s late legendary midfielder, Mudashiru Babatunde a.k.a. Muda Lawal who guided the country to its first African Nations Cup title, at the 1980 African Nations Cup.
The multi-sports facility with estimated 20,000-capacity used to be the home of Abiola Babes in the 80s, where many Nigeria’s soccer stars, Friday Ekpo, Yisa Shofoluwe, Toyin Ayinla, Raymond King among others, played their games.
Unfortunately, a large portion of the abandoned stadium sitting on large expanse of land has been turned into a park for heavy duty vehicles by the state government
Apart from weeds, bushes and thorns within the main complex, the football pitch has become bald and undulating, while the running tracks have been washed away.
A worker of the Ogun Sports Council, the body in charge of the facility, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described the situation as “unfortunate.”
“It is unfortunate that the stadium which could have served as a platform for youths to exhibit their talents and for us to harness them is in a state of ruin and they (youths) have been joining bad gangs,” he said.
NAN visit to the tomb of the late Prime Minister, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa in Bauchi, further buttressed the wrong maintenance approach adopted by the nation.
The iconic infrastructure which supposed to be tourists destination and money spinner for the sector is also in bad shape
The grand edifice which contained the remains of Balewa, the first Prime Minister of newly independent Nigeria needed the attention of the relevant authorities.
A senior tour guide, at the mausoleum who pleaded anonymity said: “the major challenge here is that the roof to the tomb is leaking anytime there is rainfall and the leakage is right from the gate up to the grave site.
“We are in collaboration with the National Commission for Museums and Monuments.and we have written a letter stating the problem to them as well as the Bauchi State Government.
“We hope that the parties will join hands to find lasting solutions to the problem’’.
The guide, however, noted that there was strong collaboration between the management of the tomb and the security agencies in the state on effective protection of the structure against vandalism.
In Ibadan, Oyo state, Cocoa House, the first skyscraper in Nigeria and tropical Africa, is gradually losing its glory as a result of inadequate maintenance.
The 23-storey building built with Cocoa proceeds in 1965 by the government of the defunct Western Region led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Ladoke Akintola, was one of the most visible and enduring legacies of the early political leaders in the South-West.
NAN recalled that in Jan. 2021 one person was killed while three others were injured when the Cocoa House elevator suffered mechanical failure and collapsed.
It was gathered then, that the faulty elevator of the multistory building crashed while four technicians were working to restore it
When NAN visited the legacy building on Tuesday, it was discovered that only three of the four lifts in the skyscraper were functioning.
A tenant who craved anonymity said that the security closed circuit cameras in the building did not cover every floor in the building.
The occupant added that the fire fighting pick up van provided by the Oodua investment company,manager of the facility, could not do much in case of fire incident.
Prof. Oyesoji Aremu, Chairman Osun State Education Summit said the decline of Cocoa house legacy began when the edifice got burnt in 1985.
According to him, the administration then, tried to salvage the building from whatever remained of the ruins to avoid a total wreck but after that it did not regain its first glory.
“This can be said in terms of beehives of activities that it was once noted for as well as the ambience and aura that people look out for..
“There are no more activities that we used to have at Cocoa house in the past.
“Although people still have their businesses and shops there, but it is no longer attracting the kind of attention it used to attract,” he said.
Of equal concerns is the recent report that some road fittings installed on the Second Niger Bridge, commissioned by the immediate past President, Muhammadu Buhari in May last year, were stolen by suspected vandals.
The 1.6km bridge linking Asaba, Delta State with Onitsha, Anambra State and other South-East states which was named after President Buhari has been described as a national asset
Reacting to the sad development the Commissioner of Police in Anambra, Aderemi Adeoye told NAN that his Command in collaboration with the Delta state command had begun 24-hour surveillance of the bridge.
He said that the patrol would be both mobile and static, stating that the operation has been scheduled among divisions to cover night and day surveillance.
The steps by the Police boss had, however, attracted backlash from stakeholders who believed that security agents should be proactive and not reactive in their approaches to safety and protection of public facilities.
The stakeholders blamed the security agencies for the second Niger Bridge vandalism as well as unabated theft of gully inlets, manhole covers and other flood containment infrastructure in cities, particularly, the Federal Capital Territory.
NAN observed that despite their weight, manhole covers were being stolen in the FCT, by scavengers and unpatriotic individual leaving the holes open and posing a grave danger to unsuspecting motorists and pedestrians.
The stakeholders called on the Police to provide constant surveillance security and close circuit cameras against theft of manhole covers and other public infrastructure.
They also called for collaborative support of residents by reporting any unusual or suspicious observations to relevant security agencies for prompt action in order to forestall the ugly situation.
The stakeholders also recommended stiffer penalties, including death sentence, for culprits of public infrastructure theft and vandalism.
Specifically, they argued that rail track vandalism, should be treated as a capital offense because its consequences could be fatal resulting in death of passengers.
