According to statements drawn from the Building Collapse Prevention Guild, Lagos State has the highest building collapse fatalities in the construction business sector. In this state alone, over 272 buildings have collapsed in the last one decade, representing 50 percent of the 541 recorded cases from 1974 to 2022. Records show that approximately 550 people died in the 272 collapses. This recurrent issue of collapses have jeopardized many businesses and caused loss of many lives.
Experts have proffered that projects should be carried out by professionals with the license to build. A high number of the recorded cases of collapses in the country is linked to use of substandard materials and inexperienced builders that lack the required technical knowledge for strict adherence to codes and standards. Non-enforcement of stage certification by regulators in the industry is significantly recognized as a cause of these occurrences within the country. This has made non-professionals take charge in the construction space without the knowledge or competence.
Licensed professionals should execute builds.
Commenting on the issue, former Redan auditor and managing director of Roccio Carrillo, Mr. Emmanuel Oyelowo, defined the problem of the sector as systemic failure which makes it possible for people to build structures without abiding by the control regulations of building. In his statement, the construction stage should be executed by people with licensed degrees to construct facilities and have related experience to complete the work needed. When this happens, professional builders are liable for whatsoever goes wrong after construction.
Director of JJ&J property management company Limited, Mr. Ezekiel Oke, also reacting to the issue, highlighted some factors that are likely to cause structures to crumble in the construction sector. They include bad designs, soil liquification, refusal to perform strength tests, extraordinary load, foundation failure, incompetence and others. According to the treasurer of Nigeria Institute of Building, Philips Ayotunde, a certificate of completion is a must, and this must be obtained before anyone is permitted to move into any new build.
Crumbling structures directly proportional to weak enforcement.
Additionally, the immediate past president of the Nigerian Institute of Building(NIOB), Kunle Awobodu, said that theoretically, the lifespan of a property is assumed to be 60 years. As a result, it is anomalous when there is frequent collapse of new builds and old structures are still intact after many years of construction. An expert in the industry, Hon. Olatunji Odunlami, noted the role of building material merchant. They sell substandard materials to ignorant end users.
Therefore, the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) is advised to disallow entry of such products into the country for sale. Various records revealed that many states in Nigeria have experienced at least one collapse. The records show that there is a direct proportion of crumbling structures to weak enforcement. Causative factors in his statement include natural factors like hurricanes and tornadoes, flooding, earthquakes, landslides, fire, and weakness of property due to many years of construction.
Public engagement is needed to put an end to these collapses.
Hon. Odunlami stressed that professionals in the sector should work according to the ethics of the profession with probity. Professional and regulatory bodies are urged to man up to their responsibilities of ensuring professional integrity and firmness in investigation and punishment of professional misconduct. Public engagement is also emphasized to assist enforcement agencies with identification of illegal developments and suspicious sites undergoing construction. Acting as whistleblowers will foster a stop to the likely dangerous projects at the infant stage, thereby preventing these incidents.
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Lagos has 50% of collapses in Nigeria. – 550 people have died from 272 building collapses in Lagos, Nigeria. – Express your point of view.
The rate at which building is been collapsing in the country is getting out of hand and this tend to increase because there is no punishment incurred when such happen from the contractors to the investors and the people incharge of monitoring building project which don’t do their job because of corruption.
It is unfortunate buildings continue to collapse in Lagos. The state government should have a regulatory body that will regulate and manage how these buildings are built.
The high incidence of building collapses in Lagos is a result of several factors including the lack of adherence to standard building codes and regulations, the use of substandard building materials and inadequate government regulation and enforcement. It is imperative that the government takes decisive measures to address these challenges in order to avoid further loss of life and property. This includes the provision of more stringent regulations, the enforcement of existing building codes, and the training and retraining of builders and architects in the industry on building safety awareness.
This is very sad many people are have died from building collapse this need to be stop people are just building house without following the protocol needed that why building are collapsing not using good and necessary material to build house
Lagos has 50% of collapses in Nigeria. Lagos has experience more collapse more than any other states Nigeria. Lagos state government need to send his agents out to go check weak buildings in Lagos
The construction management regulation needs to be addressed in the country especially in Lagos where the case occurrence is much more higher. With strict regulations build collapses can be eliminated by avoiding low quality materials for building.
The housing corporation in Lagos are not effectively carrying out their duties, they ought to carry out checks on material used for large buildings in Nigeria before the construction begins
The lack of repercussions for poor behaviour by consultants and investors, and those tasked with overseeing construction projects but who fail to do so due to corruption is absurd, they should be punished for things like this.
It is due to the substandard materials and equipments they used for building certain houses and that is why many buildings collapse and i feel there should be agencies that monitors the building of houses.
These people should know that their rubbish buildings have caused so many damage to people lives and properties, and it’s greed that is making them do these criminal acts.
The reason why we have so many collapsed building in lagos can be attributed to so many non professionals in the field parading themselves as developers with no formal training or certification on building construction. The so call developers who was contracted to build with his own money and release the building to the owner after some years will want to maximize profit by reducing the quality of building materials. As rightly identified a high number of the recorded cases of collapses in the country is linked to use of substandard materials and inexperienced builders that lack the required technical knowledge for strict adherence to codes and standards. Action and enforcement should be taken to put it under control.
50% of collapses of buildings in Nigeria is an indication of too many non professional in the field who prefer substandard building materials for construction. Standard Organization of Nigeria(SON) should step up in their duty to arrest every forms of substandard goods imported into the country. There are many so called developer who receive a contract of building for the owner with their money after some years based on agreement return it to the owners. So many of these developers are non professionals that uses substandard building materials for construction. Please, the FG should endeavour that construction stage are executed by people with licensed degrees to construct facilities and have related experience to complete the work needed.