Puzzle As Building Collapse, Haphazard Construction Continues In Lagos

That frequent building collapse is currently the subject of raging debates and one of the most discussed issues in the country right now can be tacitly understood.

For the fact that the menace had not been effectively tackled by successive governments in the country, the problem has become a national shame taking its toll frequently on lives and property.

For instance in Lagos State, developers have become so powerful that their building sites are so fortified that officials of the Lagos State Building Collapse Agency find it difficult to access the sites.

Speaking on the unending spate of building collapses in the country, the immediate past President of the Nigerian Institute of Builders (NIOB) Builder Kunle Awobodu noted that lack of political will to implement recommendations by professionals is partly responsible for cases of building collapses in the country.

Awobodu said, ‘’That is why we said that there is an obvious dichotomy between policy formulation and implementation. It is very annoying that LASBCA people claimed that they were not given access to check whatever they were doing on the site. There is something called stage inspection of work, where at intervals you will be at the site to confirm what is being done; to check and sign off on adherence to standard specifications.’’

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Lamenting lack of regulation in the construction sector,  he said although under the Lagos State building regulations, developers are supposed to involve professionals and builders in the production process, a lot of people don’t pay attention to the licence of those who are working for them.

‘’ They don’t try to investigate if these people are licensed by their professional and regulatory bodies to practise the role they are playing on the site. If you engage a builder, without looking at his qualifications, and without investigating their certificates, it is a common error.

‘’Most of these developers, who are not professionals in the construction world, keep on constructing by direct labour instead of engaging well-established construction companies to handle high-rise construction. These people, by direct labour, will engage in the construction of high-rise buildings.

‘’We have said that the government should not allow this to take place. High-rise buildings require profound expertise. There are special techniques required. But when you embark on the construction of high-rise buildings by direct labour, it is not acceptable. Developers who are more or less like businessmen will be recruiting construction workers to carry out direct labour. The risk involved is high. This is now common in Lagos and other towns in Nigeria, even Abuja.

‘’The government should stop this practice. The developers, on their own, will start to build an in-house construction team. Should this be allowed? No. High-rise buildings are meant for well-organised construction companies with all the necessary plants and equipment, professionals, and expertise to execute the project.

‘’Some of the developers are procuring piling equipment, embarking on piling work by themselves. Like this one (Banana Island), I think they are also piling by themselves, rather than outsourcing the contract to specialists in that sector. Most of these developers are turning their organisations into construction companies in order to save costs. This is a dangerous practice, and is something that must be corrected.’’

Awobodu affirmed that monitoring officers cannot be held responsible for the day-to-day running of a site, and day-to-day quality control of building production, saying a certified and licenced professional builders are expected to be on the site to manage the day-to-day building production process.

He said, ‘’ It is not because of the pecuniary gains. It is how somebody bears the responsibility to deliver the project successfully. A monitoring officer will only come once in a while and ask relevant questions — who is the builder that is managing the production process? He can ask for the manual, the drawings, and the designs and then compare them to what is being executed on-site. That is just a temporary system of checking what is being done.

‘’The primary assignment of a monitoring officer from LASBCA is to get to the site and find out if the project has an approved building plan, and if it has a qualified builder who is managing the building production process. The architect, and the civil construction engineer may come once in a while, but the day-to-day running of a site, and managing the building process, lies on that builder. He will be held liable if something within his control goes wrong.’’

Obviously not amused by the increasing spate of building collapses, the National President of Building Collapse Prevention Guild ( BCPG), Sulaimon Yusuf  lamented frequent cases of building collapse in different parts of the state, saying urgent steps must be taken to nip the problem in the bud.

He said incidents of building collapse  have become a recurrent issue because Real estate and housing development have become an alternative booming business for investors following the collapse of the stock exchange and manufacturing in Nigeria.

‘’So many business oriented people, who possess nil training in building construction have flooded the nation’s construction sphere with little respect for professionalism and due process.

‘’When there are no eligibility criteria, requirements or qualifications that restrict admission into a sensitive and critical sector, the consequence will endanger the much cherished life and property. And in ‘all comers affair’, where professional advice is hardly adhered to as profiteering is elevated above safety, compromise becomes the order of the day.

‘’This abnormal and unacceptable situation became a concern to those of us in the built environment professional services. Town Planners, (Land) Surveyors, Architects, Engineers, Quantity Surveyors, Builders, and Estate Surveyors & Valuers came together to form a coalition named Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG) in 2011. Of course, the membership was huge and well spread across different localities and reticulated into various cell formations.’’

The Town Planner said the price being paid by the Nigerian construction professionals is high in image damage due to the activities of quacks, saying the earlier the menace of building collapse is put to rest, the better for the practitioners in the Nigerian building industry.

He appealed to developers to abide by the building regulations and engage the appropriate professionals in the pre-construction, construction and post- construction stages of building, saying they should consider the risk involved in building construction more than the gains.

To avert continuous  loss of lives and property in the state, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, had since ordered the immediate demolition of some buildings located in Banana Island, Ikoyi, as well as sealing of other buildings in the area to ascertain their structural integrity.

Sanwo-Olu blamed the collapse of the earlier seven storey building on First Avenue, in Banana Island on what he called “reckless” operations of some developers hiding under the pretext of Federal Government agencies issuing building approvals for unsuspecting property owners.

Governor Sanwo-Olu said, “We are at the site of the last unfortunate building collapse in Banana Island Lagos and am sure you have all gone round and see the site.

“Like it has been reported before now, there has been a lot of investigation that is going on right now and you can see that they are still clearing the rubbles at the site.

“We have given an order to stop work, not only at this site but also in all of the construction sites in Banana Island.

I think that the exercise we are doing today is not really just about this location.

“You have all seen the extent of what I will call unapproved extension into the water, at the back of each of the land that is aborting a water. You can see that the original line for Banana Island is not even where we are.

“It’s way in front there and you can see that there are several extensions that have been granted by both the Federal Ministry of Work and Housing and National Inland Waterways, (NIWA). These are the two federal agencies that have been culpable for those extensions.

“They have done these extensions even without our knowledge. We have the responsibility for building approvals and the rest of these.

“From what I have been told all of the four buildings at the back have never even applied for approvals. The legality is real and so that is why we are going round other properties in banana Island.’’

Governor who read the riot act to the state government officials colluding with fraudulent developers said his administration is considering setting up a seven man committee to halt illegal construction and haphazard reconstruction of buildings in Banana Island, Lagos.

“But what we are doing right now is to set up an external seven man committee, we are giving the people two weeks to independently also ascertain what has gone wrong there.’’