PROPERTY Building collapse: Experts proffer solutions
Professionals in the building industry have decried the recurring cases of collapsed building in the country.
President of Quantity Surveyor Registration Board of Nigeria ( QSRBN) Mallam Husaini Dikko, in a communiqué, disclosed that over 1000 cases of building collapse had been reported in Nigeria over the past 20 years with a good number of incidents going unreported and uninvestigated. He added that regulation, supervision, standardization and professionalism were found to be imperative in addressing the menace of building collapse in Nigeria.
He said that the growing incidents of building collapse had become worrisome to all stakeholders in the building industry, especially governments who must protect lives and properties and professionals who must promote ethics, standards and professionalism.
He noted that most reported cases of building collapse had either been poorly investigated or not investigated at all and that deterrent actions had been very few or non-existent.
He berated government for inadequate funding of its established Professional Regulatory Agencies who have responsibility to regulate on standard, discipline, ethics and professionalism in the building production process, thus affecting their capacities to discharge their statutory mandate to the society.
“There is no law in existence to enforce the provisions of the National Building Code, 2006 which operation would have drastically reduced incidents of collapse building in Nigeria to the barest minimum. Management of building collapse in Nigeria goes beyond the myopic views of each of the seven professions in the building industry. A joint team comprising representatives of each of the seven professions in the building industry is ideal for investigating every incident of collapsed building,’’ he said.