Building Collapse: Experts Advocate Law To Punish Defaulters

Prof. Samson Duna, the Director General of the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI) Abuja, has called for the enactment and enforcement of a law to punish anybody that violates the building code in Nigeria.

Duna, who stated this in a public lecture at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi on Friday, said this would serve as a deterrent to anybody found wanting.

“Since the history of building collapse, we have never had a case where somebody was punished by being taken to court or jailed for being responsible.

“We are calling on the National Assembly to enact a law so that anybody that is found wanting as far as carelessness is concerned, man-made error somewhere, the person should be punished, face the music and this will serve as a deterrent to others,” he said.

Duna, also the Chief Executive Officer NIBRRI, advocated for the establishment of rapid response teams across the 36 states and FCT to swiftly respond to any form of building collapse and save lives on time.

He said, “we are agitating that each state government should establish a response team, buy facility excavators, keep them, train people just as if you are going to war.

“This is necessary so that anytime a building collapse occurs, you are there as a rapid response team and not when a building collapses you start begging people to bring equipment.

“No equipment for excavation and we know that these buildings will continue to fail. We are not praying for anything like that to happen in Bauchi state, but if it does, do we have an excavator nearby?

“Do you have people trained to do something nearby and that’s why I’m calling authorities like the state governments to establish a Rapid Response Team to cater for unforseen circumstances like building collapse”.

In order to prevent building collapse in the country, Duna advocated that structural integrity assessment should be carried out for all existing structures built over a period of 15 years with emphasis on areas or locations that have experienced bomb blast.

He advised that all stakeholders in the construction industry should adhere strictly to the provisions of the building code, adding that construction of buildings must be carried out in accordance with design specifications.

According to him, regulatory professional bodies should regularly organise workshops for stakeholders in the building industry to update their knowledge as well as regular public enlightenment and sensitisation campaigns for the people.

Also speaking, the Acting Vice Chancellor, ATBU, Bauchi, Prof. Sani Kunya, said it was important to look at various variables that bothered on abuse of building standards and building procedures.

He said it was also necessary to look at the outright official corruption to grant official permission to substandard and clearly dangerous structures as well as tempering with the approved original plans and structures of buildings.

The topic of the lecture is Building Collapse in Nigeria: A Preventable Human Infliction.

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