The chairman, Nigerian Institute of Building, Mr. James Ogbagha, has joined the league of Nigerian building experts who believe that building collapse will not cease in Nigeria except certain steps are taken. In this interview with FRANCIS KADIRI, the Federal Capital Territory chapter of NIoB boss stressed that the menace would persist till the National Assembly passes the National Building Code Bill into law, nine years after it had been at the Assembly. Excerpts:
Three days after a church building collapsed in Uyo, another building collapsed in Lagos. What are the factors responsible for the incessant collapses?
The NIoB sends sincere condolences to the family of the victims and the people and governments of the affected states. I want the government to know that the tragedy was 100 per cent preventable. Unfortunately, the failure of appropriate authorities to do the needful led to the tragedies.
How do you mean?
As an institute, we continued to warn successive governments of the dangers, because as professionals, the dangers were obvious to us. So, it is the lack of appropriate regulations in the sector that led to the construction of weak structures, which eventually collapse.
What is the solution to this menace?
The right thing to do, as it is done in other climes, is that every building that will be built must go through a number of processes. The various checks are to ensure that the progress of work is safe. It is as a result of adhering to set rules that the skyscrapers in Europe and America are still standing strong, even after hundreds of years. Government agencies must ensure that designs are according to the plan for the areas where the houses are to be built. Then, there must be soil test to confirm that the type of building planned for the soil type is appropriate. This is because some soil types cannot bear the weight of some massive buildings, therefore the house can sink and thereafter get soaked and collapse.
What about the design?
Your design stages must be evaluated and put to test. The architect designs the drawing; the structural engineer designs the structural elements. All these are put together and handed over to the professional, who is trained to build, the builder. If all these were followed, the incidences of building collapse would never have happened. But the contrary is the case in Nigeria. Anybody can mix a bag of cement and put bricks upon other bricks and boast of having built a house. It is very hazardous to live in such houses.
Unfortunately, no law stops them. In order to deliver a safe building, the inputs of the various professionals in the building environment are required. The architect must come and check to ensure that the builder is building according to the design he evolved. In likewise manner, the structural professional must also do the same.
Anybody can mix a bag of cement and put bricks upon other bricks and boast of having built a house. It is very hazardous to live in such houses,ww Unfortunately, no law stops them
The builder on site must follow the various stages specified by the other professionals of the built environment. This done, the house will be built safely, because an authority is accountable for every process of the building production.
In order legal backing to this very important need, the National Building Code must be urgently passed into law. Passage of the code into law will make it lawful to identify culprits and quacks, and it will discourage criminals from joining the illegal trade of building production.
As we speak, Nigerians have suffered from too many incidences of building collapse, but no quack has been arrested or apprehended, because there is no law that defines quackery, with regards to the built environment. So not a single quack can be effectively charged to court, or prosecuted, since his misbehavior is not defined as a crime in the law books.
The culprits of the Synagogue Church were arrested, probably because some high profile personalities were involved, especially expatriates that died in the process. Yet, as we speak, the prosecution is weak, because no law states that it is illegal for quacks to build a house
What is delaying the passage of the bill?
I can’t speak for the National Assembly, but as a professional, I can assure you that if the National Building Code is passed into law, it will provide for the regulation needed to correct the anomalies associated with building construction in Nigeria, and consequently end building collapse. As an institute, the NIoB can only continue to advocate as it has been doing.
We have educated the National Assembly in order to make them understand the need to pass the bill into law. So we will not be tired to continue our advocacy until the needful is done. We are sad, because preventable deaths continue to rise from spate of building collapses. The sad truth is that the deaths are avoidable and government knows this truth.
What is the statutory responsibility of the NIoB?
The Nigerian Institute of Building is a body of professionals, established by laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The component professionals are trained in the science and technologies of building. Builders are responsible for building production processes
