For anyone with a keen interest on current events in the country, it can now be observed that building collapse is hardly out of the news cycle for more than a week.
The increasing rate at which buildings are collapsing in different states is now a major concern for citizens in the country because in truth, no one knows where it would happen next.
Just early this Sunday, a seven-storey building under construction on Oba Idowu Oniru Street, Lagos, collapsed, killing six persons.
In the aftermath of the tragic incident, the Lagos State Commissioner for Physical and Urban Planning, Idris Salako was relieved of his duties but not after he had told journalists that the building developer (who he refused to name) had been hostile to agency officials who were sent to seal the site.
Another official also revealed that the site had been closed down about three times which raised further questions as to why was work still going on in the first instance.
Last week, a three-storey-building collapsed in the Kubwa axis of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja which led to the death of two persons.
In the same week, another three-story building at Beirut GSM Market in Kano State collapsed claiming the lives of two persons; another person was electrocuted and lost his life during the rescue operation.
Despite the publicity that greeted that collapse of the 21-storey building in the Ikoyi area of Lagos State, the attendant panels, committees and tribunals that were set up to unravel the cause of the collapse and various recommendations and policy action points posited, Lagos still continues to be plagued with incessant collapse which begs the question, what were the panels for?
In May this year, The Ebute-Metta area of Lagos witnessed two various incidents of building collapse.
Firstly, a three-storey building collapse killing ten persons while 24 others were rescued from the crash ground and less than a week on, another two-storey building collapse claimed the lives of two persons.
In February this year, another five persons died when a three-storey building collapse in Yaba area of Lagos while in June, a survivor only escaped death by whiskers as a two storey building collapsed at the Onipanu bus-stop area of the state.
The prevalence of the building collapse is not peculiar to just Lagos State, in January this year, a one-storey building collapsed while over 150 worshippers of the Salvation Ministry Church in Okpanam, near Asaba, Delta State were waiting inside to take Holy Communion killing four persons.
In June, a three- storey building on Ahiaeke, along Ikot Ekpene road near Umuahia, Abia State capital partial collapsed leaving residents of the area in fear and shock, thankfully, there was no casualty in the incident.
A three-storey building also collapsed on popular Bendel Street, Old Port Harcourt township, Rivers State. According to eyewitnesses, the building, which was constructed several decades ago, caved in at about 2.00am on June 29, 2022.
What is clear from these incidents is that building collapse is leading to loss of lives, properties, and finances while creating a lot of tension amongst citizens.
A recent report showed that in the past 10 months, about 81 persons have died in about 11 building collapses that were recorded and reported across various states in the country.
Another report analyzing data from the Lagos State Emergency Agency (LASEMA) showed that there were 31 cases of building collapse reported to the agency in the state between January and July this year.
In all of this, the question that remains unanswered is what has regulatory agencies being doing to contain this ugly trend.
Prognosis carried out after most building collapse usually shows that they were deviations from approved plans or a total lack of approval for these building and their specifications in the first place.
One reason that has been identified as why incidences of building collapse continue to occur is that there is no punishment for wrongdoing in the country.
When a deadly building collapse claimed the lives of 43 persons in May this year, 21 defendants were sentenced to three years in prison for manslaughter caused by failing to respect government regulations and building safety.
Despite the number of lives that have been lost in various building collapse, it is difficult to point out one conviction that has been made.
Government agencies are quick to blame developers when things go south, but these buildings should not have been developed at all without the due permission and where there are deviations from the permit granted, it still falls on the agencies to act and enforce their regulations.
Various factors not limited to poor workmanship, use of sub-standard building materials, use of unqualified professionals, shoddy construction and soil investigation, government official’s conspiracy, and lack of supervision/monitoring, among others have been adduced for frequent building collapse incidents in the country.
The present trend cannot be left uncheck. All stakeholders and agencies must rise up to their responsibilities to check these ugly occurrences.
Speaking on the way forward, in a report by Tribune, Former Director- General, Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI), Professor Danladi S. Matawal stated that stricter requirements should be set up by regulatory authorities for more comprehensive soils reports for sites before approving sizeable building construction on sites within town planning jurisdictions.
“The soils should cover adequately the breadth and length of sites while the depths of explorations should be deep enough to reveal all the profiling to cater for the size of a building. This is the first condition for approval.
“After the soils reports and then appropriate structural designs are available, regulatory authorities may now begin to request for appropriate supervision set ups which need to be monitored once the construction commences until successfully completed,” he said.
Other experts have called for the implementation of recommendations of various panels and committees that have been established to dissect the issues of building collapse instead of allowing them gather dust in shelves.
A structural expert, Engr. Victor Oyenuga was also quoted in a report saying the government was not ready to get it right in the built environment, blaming the recurrence of the incident on the government’s failure to implement many past recommendations on building collapse.
Oyenuga, a former President of the Nigerian Institution of Structural Engineers (NISE), also said the government lacked the capacity to effectively supervise buildings and avoid recurring incidents of building collapse across the country.
He said, “If the building was sealed, why did the people go back to the site? Building is not something you carry out under cover.”
Asked when the nation will get it right in the built environment, he said, “The truth is that the government is not prepared. If the government is prepared, they would have found a solution to it. We have proposed several solutions.”
