Any Way Out?
AWELE OGBOGU
Incidents of collapsed buildings are a recurring decimal that have seemingly defied all prescribed formulae for resolving them, meaning that the risk factors that precipitate a building collapse are still very much prevalent within the building industry, often happening in quick succession, to the point that stakeholders are losing count.
Checks by The Pointer revealed that the country suffered 135 building collapse cases and no less than 26 fatalities between 2022 and 2024. So there seem to be no way out of the conundrum. This year alone, the numbers are mounting. There was one close to DMGS, Onitsha, Anambra State on June 12 and that of a school (Saint Academy) in Plateau State on July 13 where 22 students died and 134 injured and another in Kubwa, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, among others.
The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, the regulatory body governing the practice of engineering has said that Nigeria recorded 22 building collapses between January to July 2024. The two-storey building housing Saint Academy, located at the Busa Buji community in Jos North Local Government Area, collapsed on Friday, July 13 at about 8.30am, claiming 22 persons and left about 154 trapped.
Although the investigative panel set up by the Federal Government on the incident has released a preliminary report, a number of building professionals who spoke to The Pointer were pessimistic about its implementation to the latter, lamenting absence of concerted efforts by all stakeholders. Already, the Director General of the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute, Prof. Samson Duna, did not say anything new. According to him, “the physical observation of the building looked distressed while weak materials were used for the building.” The big question is “why was there nobody, including his own organization not able to stop them? He said the report also depicted that the quality of the concrete used to construct the two-storey building was in doubt, as there was no boundary between the concrete and the steel reinforcement. The report also said the slab reinforcement anchorage provided for the structure was inadequate. The sizes of the footing (foundation) provided were lesser than the required number (1200 mm X 1200mm)
A respondent in Asaba has enjoined the government and other professional bodies in the construction industry to insist on integrity tests on all distressed buildings, especially those around the collapsed building site. He said the country has continued to experience building collapse because there had been no regular inspections and penalties for non-compliance. He said from the available records on building collapse incidents across the country, no one had been sanctioned for negligence. He then suggested collaboration among stakeholders, including government agencies, professionals and the public, to share knowledge and global best practices. The Plateau State government was advised to ensure that the laws governing town planning were reinforced to forestall a recurrence of the tragic incident.
“No sentiments should be attached, no matter whose ox is gored, if somebody does not follow the rules, if they erect a building on a passage for stream water, once the foundation is questioned, such building should be brought down.” “We know what has happened in the past. It is as if the high and mighty in society should construct a building, nobody would want to touch the building out of respect for them.
Meanwhile, the nation has continued to mourn the demise of those children. The entire country is very sad. People cannot get accustomed to it.
Even concerned groups such as the Building Collapse Prevention Guild are finding it increasingly difficult to keep track, believing that not a few incidents around the country go unreported. It says that a point, 22 cases of building collapse and 33 deaths occurred under seven months, a stark reality confirmed by the Conference of Registered Engineers (COREN). As a matter of fact, over 91 buildings collapsed, resulting in the death of over 354 persons in Lagos from 2012 to date.
But for all they can tell about the number of incidents and casualty figure, these groups, whether as NGOs or professional bodies appear to have assumed a “siddon look” posture, owing to their belief that a political will to stem the tide appears to be lacking. That is why in the industry, there is always something to cry about. Two individuals were reportedly trapped when a three-storey building under construction collapsed in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital. The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria says the country recorded 22 building collapses between January and July 2024. From January to 14 July alone, at least 22 cases of building collapse have been reported in Nigeria with Lagos accounting for a large chunk of the number. Ten persons, including a 17-year-old girl were rescued under the rubble of a four-storey building that collapsed at 15, Iga Idungaran Street, Lagos Island, Lagos State, only recently. The incident occurred near the Oba of Lagos, Rilwanu Akiolu’s Palace on Lagos Island. The structure was already marked by Lagos State Building Control Agency, LASBCA, for evacuation before it subsequently collapsed. This happened barely four days after a mosque collapsed at Yusuf Street, Papa Ajao, Mushin area, killing three worshippers, including a 12-year-old boy. Akin to the attitudes of the authorities, it was after the worst had happened that they moved in bulldozers to demolish other parts of the building. The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), the regulatory body that governs the practice of engineering in the country, also said Lagos, Anambra, Ekiti and Plateau had the highest incidences of building collapse in the first six and a half months of 2024.
Briefing the press recently, the council’s President, Prof. Sadiq Abubakar, said that the organisation was perturbed by the incessant and avoidable incidences of building collapse in Nigeria and the loss of lives in recent times. Although COREN said that as a body it does not rush to make conclusive comments after building collapses without recourse to investigation, said causes vary from one location to the other. In Nigeria , COREN stated that from its investigations and researches conducted over the years, the collapses are usually caused by substandard construction materials, structural failure, illegal change of use of buildings as well as illegal addition of floors. Others, it said, include quackery, inadequate or lack of supervision and oversight, faulty foundations or lack of conduct of soil and other technical investigation as well as sharp and corrupt practices among builders and “bad eggs” within the regulatory bodies, amongst others.
It has been hinted that relevant professionals should engage cement manufacturers, if possible through relevant joint committee of the National Assembly, as well as collaborate with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) towards sanitising the market of sub-standard building materials. In percentage terms, from January to 14 July, 2024 alone, at least 22 cases of building collapses have been reported in Nigeria with Lagos accounting for 27.27 per cent, Abuja and Anambra 18.18 per cent each, Ekiti and Plateau 9.09 per cent each and Kano, Taraba and Niger States accounting for 4.55 per cent each.
Records have also shown that Lagos takes the lead in the incidences of building collapse. As a matter of fact, 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 and injury of many. The building collapse at Onitsha, Anambra State was on June 12, 2024, that of Saint Academy) in Plateau State on Friday, July 13, 2024 and the collapse in Kubwa, Abuja, on Saturday, July 14, 2024.
A building practitioner in Asaba, Engr. Sam Okafor, while commiserating with bereaved families across the country, called for panels to unravel the causes of the building collapses. “This is not the time for apportioning blame or for a contest by experts, but a time for all stakeholders to unite and proffer workable and lasting solution, particularly in the area of prevention.
He raised the alarm on “proliferation of illegal miners and sand dredgers within residential areas as reported in some quarters. It constitutes grave danger to the structural stability of buildings, so I urge affected states to take urgent steps to reverse the trend.” In addition, COREN, had said it is time to enforce the compulsory insurance of buildings under construction. Okafor called for “training and licensing of Engineering Regulation Monitoring (ERM) inspectors.
Although the engineering regulator said “ an investigative panel is in place. The disciplinary tribunal is also in place while COREN has initiated effort to develop critical mass of engineering infrastructure failure and forensic investigators and discussions are ongoing with the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI) and the Chartered Institute of Fraud and Forensic Investigators (CIFFI) in this regard”. But it has been asked: “how many of the practitioners are members of the professional body. What about the quacks and their growing numbers, the large army that go by name ‘engineers’
However, the group said “we want to encourage the general public to share useful information with us and concerned authorities as soon as signs of distress are observed in any building so that proactive steps can be taken”. Meanwhile, the Senate has asked the federal government and all relevant government agencies to urgently put necessary structures in place to handle construction failures and bring to book all those violating lay down procedures for construction activities. They also urged the Federal Ministry of Health and other relevant government agencies to immediately move to Plateau North to give medical aid to the survivors of the building collapse to aid speedy recovery and cushion the devastating effect on the affected families.
The fresh concern by the professionals followed the new cases of collapsed building in Lagos, Abuja and Jos in the past 1-2 weeks. Some of the professionals are suggesting that in view of the recurring cases of building collapse, they should be allowed to take it as a responsibility to monitor building developments so that they can speak out on time if infractions are detected. One even said they would like to take it as a civic responsibility to protect the public against such accidents. Speaking on the social media platform of the Housing Development Advocacy Network, a professional, who identified himself simply as “Hamza”, said the system that advocated adherence to the national building code was faulty, pointing out that professionals have been sidelined. “The level of compromise by low level contractors and “do it yourself” patrons is becoming outlandish. We need to review everything from architectural to engineering designs”, he said. According to him, construction of any building type must be supervised by a registered building professional, be it at the federal, state or local government levels. He added that routine building checks and maintenance should be carried out by the authorities on existing structures, as well as those under construction. Hamza said: “we cannot sit idly by and watch our own industry degenerate into chaos, indeed it is fast turning into a graveyard because of the attitude to evade the cost implication, thereby putting up structures of any kind. All hands need to come on deck to resolve this persistent menace of building collapse at all levels.”
Founder and Executive Director, Cromwell Professional Services, Mr. Sola Enitan, explained that the solution to building collapse would depend on the compliance and enforcement of the Nigerian Insurance Commission (NICOM) Act and the Compulsory Insurance of Public Buildings. He said: “the interplay of professionals and experts over every insured public building will bring the spate of collapsed buildings to a halt. There’s no shortcut to development, the National Building Code cannot stop building collapse on its own but the enforcement of all its applicable codes across board by professionals in the built environment will.” According to him, public buildings insurance is key, adding that it coves code compliance, consistent integrity checks, valuation and finance components for insurance risks mitigations. “Insurance laws will not only be obeyed, insurance laws must be enforced. There’s a committee already established that’s trying to find a solution to this. What we need is an industry infrastructure, as against, human centred policy enforcement. The technology which will accomplish the desired goals must be driven in such a way that it can be seamlessly complied with and enforced by a collaboration of agencies.”
To stop the menace, he called for “test of the integrity of all high-rise buildings. “The starting point is to recognise that high-rise structures are at the highest risk of collapse. This is due to structural inadequacies and professional ineptitude on the part of the developers. Previous studies suggested that government didn’t implement the recommendations from past integrity tests of buildings in Lagos. This was likely due to a lack of political will to ensure fundamental standards were maintained. It suggests the government might only be paying lip service to building safety. Urgent and frequent integrity tests of all high-rise buildings in Lagos are needed. Those built more than five years ago are in particular need of testing. A structural integrity test confirms the stability of buildings and determines whether they are fit for people to live in. Government must also ensure that buildings not structurally habitable are either strengthened or demolished immediately.
“It should identify and prosecute offenders, such as land owners, investors, consultants, architects, quantity surveyors and engineers involved in these cases. It must also publish all permits received during those projects and all documents related to safety testing. This will show its commitment to putting an end to the loss of lives and property. It will also enable a thorough investigation into the causes of building collapses and ensure there are consequences for failures. It will encourage more responsible practices in the construction industry, while Okafor advised on “overhauling and restructuring of agencies and ministries.
The resignation of the Lagos State Physical Planning and Urban Development commissioner was a step in the right direction. Nevertheless, the MDAs responsible for monitoring the process appear overwhelmed and handicapped in enforcing building regulations. This is due to ineffective monitoring, lack of human resources and corruption among officials in charge of building approval.
“There is also a serious governance issue that must be addressed. Building control should be a local government responsibility. As a result of the constitutional reforms made between the 1970s and 1990s, some of these tiers of responsibility were arbitrarily altered. Thus, a total overhaul and restructuring of all the agencies and ministries responsible for monitoring the construction process is urgently required. This could be done by prosecuting complicit government officials involved in the approval of previous collapsed buildings.
“Improved tactics and logistics in monitoring construction could also be deployed. Governments, professional bodies and citizens all have essential roles to play in preventing building collapse. The starting point is the sensitisation of citizens and building developers by the emergency management agencies and professional bodies. They should focus on the need to obtain planning permission, engage professionals in the construction of their buildings and report cases of illegal construction activities in their community.
“Government must also collaborate with professional bodies and ensure that individuals or building developers consult certified professionals like engineers.
He observed that “a review of enforcement and building control regulations in states such as Lagos showed the problem is not inadequacy of relevant laws and monitoring agencies. Rather it’s a lack of proper enforcement of building regulations. In particular, states with high numbers must quickly take decisive steps to implement existing building control regulations and measures for transparency and accountability.
He said there can be as simple as information display boards at construction sites, but should be enforced. “There is also an urgent need for public awareness of the regulatory requirements for buildings. The public should demand transparency from developers and of course, the landlords. Nobody should be spared”, he concluded.
