CORBON Advocates Professionalism in Built Sector to Avert Building Collapse
The Registrar, Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON), Dr. Peter Kuroshi has advocated for the entrenchment of the competence of the various professional bodies in the built sector in construction to avert building collapse.
In an interview with THISDAY, in Abuja, the CORBON CEO said investigation by the council in several cases of collapsed building showed that various professionals in the sector were often not engaged, as in the recent case of a collapsed building in Abuja.
He said: “Referring to last week’s incident and many other incidences, often times CORBON discovered that professionals are not engaged.”
People who do not have business in construction, he said, should stay away from the sector and that professionals should limit themselves to what their profession is all about.
“The laws establishing their regulatory bodies define their professional responsibilities. If you check the National Building Code, you will actually see that the roles and responsibilities in the built environment are clearly defined.
“When we are talking about professionals in the built environment we are not just referring to anybody ....who went to school to study engineering or any other course of study.
“For you to practice as a professional in Nigeria within the building environment, you are expected to be registered and licensed by a professional regulatory body. So, we expect that in any building project site, the production management should be carried out by a registered builder and licensed by CORBON,” the Registrar said.
He admitted that the Council was aware that most of these buildings that collapsed do not have such professionals, adding that interactions with other professional colleagues in the sector revealed that beyond design, supervision does not take place.
“Often times, contractors and developers are just doing their businesses without engaging the professionals,” Kuroshi averred.
On the recent 4 storey building that collapsed in Abuja, in which two were said to have lost their lives, he said the Council felt sad that these things were happening, adding: “It is really unfortunate that in this time in the life of this country that we are experiencing this with all full compliments of professionals that we do have in the sector.
“You are aware that the professional bodies have been in existence for at least 20 years, but we are still experiencing this. “I expect that by now we would have attained the level of maturity to be able to handle just anything.”
Kurosh added that each of the five professionals in the sector ought to exert its mandate, adding: “Based on certain laws of the federal republic, there are seven professionals bodies that are recognised in the Nigerian built environment, one of them is CORBON.
“In the sector, there are Architecture, Engineering; these have branches; there is Quantity Surveying, there is Town Planning, there is Estate Surveying. Each of these professions do have the training arm which are more of association and there are also the regulatory bodies like CORBON.
“CORBON is established to regulate building technology profession in all its aspects and ramifications. In project delivery in the built environment, there are defined rules and responsibilities. We have the designers and the production managers.
“The designers are Architects and Engineers, while the Quantity Surveyors give information on the cost and other financial information required, the town planners also have their responsibilities clearly defined.”
According to him, whatever other professionals produced as inputs for building production process, such inputs become production process for the builder.