Building collapse: Stakeholders search for solutions
Stakeholders in the built environment have blamed the menace of building collapse on lack of commitment by relevant professionals in the industry.
The stakeholders also called for urgent attention from relevant professionals to reduce the problem to the barest minimum.
Speaking at a meeting between Building Collapse Prevention Guild, Yaba Cell, the Lagos State Building Control Agency and the Oba of Igbobi-Sabe Kingdom, Owolabi Adeniyi, the stakeholders said there was a need to brainstorm and fashion a way out of the incessant cases of building collapse in the state and the country at large.
According to them, if buildings continue to collapse at the rate they do in the country, lives and properties will no longer be considered safe even in the comfort of peoples’ homes.
The Chairman of Yaba Cell of BCPG, Mr. Friday Chukwu, said the issue of building collapse had become a perennial problem.
Chukwu stated that Lagos State alone had 60 per cent of building collapse incidents in the country, and called on the relevant agencies to come up with a policy that would ensure that every stage in the building construction process was approved in order to check the menace.
According to Adeniyi, the spate of building collapse has gone to a level where strategic publicity is needed to send the appropriate message to everyone in the country.
“As stakeholders, we mortgage our lives and properties because of personal aggrandisement, not minding the overall interest of all in order to make quick money,” he said.
A director at LASBCA, Mr. Adeoye Thomas, said the collapse of buildings could not be eradicated but could be reduced by the government and all stakeholders working together.
He said that it was necessary for residents to report to relevant authorities whenever they discovered a structure under construction without the proper processes being followed or if a building was showing signs of being distressed.
Thomas attributed the failure of buildings in some parts of the state to illegal construction, adding that before building, it was necessary to get necessary permits from the government.
“It is cheaper to obtain genuine approval before developing your property than paying bribes to settle officials of the agency,” he added.
According to him, the incidence of building collapse can be reduced by identifying distressed buildings and engaging competent professionals in the building production process.
He said the state government was working seriously to address the problems associated with building approval delays.
An engineer, who attended the meeting, Mr. Victor Akpan, said another major cause of building collapse was the pressure from banks on developers who rush to meet the time given to them to repay their loans.
He noted that other causes of collapse of buildings were the use of poor quality materials and non-involvement of relevant government agencies in the building process.
A builder, Mr. Wale Karunwi, said the problem had to do with professionals who for one reason or the other refused to do the proper thing in the construction process.
According to him, with the way things are going, more buildings will give way at some point in the state and the country.
“The incident at the Synagogue Church of All Nations is a clear example. There are professionals in that church who saw what was going on there and kept quiet,” he said.
PUNCH.
