In attempts to control the incidence of building collapse in the nation, especially in Lagos State, specialists in the constructed surroundings as well as others have taken towards the streets to sensitise individuals to the necessity of secure housing structure.
According to members of the Building Collapse Prevention Guild, who led the walk, there is the need for awareness as ignorance plays a major role in the problem of building collapse.
The frequency of building collapse in the country in the recent past has become a major source of worry.
Although it is not a new phenomenon in Nigeria and other developing countries, its frequent occurrences and the attendant economic losses make call for urgent attention from the government, professionals and individual citizens.
Worried by the trend, members of the BCPG, Yaba Cell, in collaboration with the Yaba Local Council Development Area, took to the streets to sensitise and enlighten people on the need to be conscious of safety measures while constructing their houses.
The sensitisation, according to them, is the first step to minimising the incidence of building collapse, since there appears to be no solution in sight to the problem.
The Building Collapse Prevention Awareness Walk 2014, which took off from the Yaba LCDA secretariat, saw the Chairman of the council, Mr. Jide Jimoh, leading the team to streets such as Adebiyi, Hughes, Queens, McEwen, Industrial Avenue, Commercial Avenue, Herbert Macaulay Way, Faneye and Old Yaba Road.
Other groups that participated in the awareness walk included the Nigerian Police, Neighbourhood Watch, Yaba LCDA Ambulance Service and Fire Service units, environmental defenders, traditional rulers and members as well as leaders of Community Development Associations.
Jimoh said the walk was a determination to create consciousness that illegal constructions and patronage of quacks in building construction must be stopped.
He said, “Our determination to ensure that we create the needed consciousness and awareness for our people against illegal, unpermitted constructions and quackery in order to save lives made us to partner with the Building Collapse Prevention Guild.
“We are grateful to God that sensitisation programmes through seminars, workshops and now, this first-of-its-kind walk in the entire country is actually creating the needed consciousness among our people.”
The council boss added that during the walk, the stakeholders were able to discover about three houses that were under construction but with no project boards containing the details of the professionals handling them as stipulated by the Lagos State Government.
According to him, the law of the state stipulates that for any building to be constructed, there must be approval and details of the structural designer, quantity surveyor and the engineer, as well as their addresses and phone numbers, among others.
“Our findings show that people are still building illegally. So, for those whom we have found wanting, we will report appropriately to the relevant government agencies, because the lives of our people are paramount to us as a government,” Jimoh stated.
The National President, BCPG, Mr. Kunle Awobodu, said the walk was meant to sensitise the community and the general public to the importance of patronising professionals and trained artisans in an age where quackery had become prevalent.
He said the guild had realised that previous sensitisation programmes were not getting to the masses, especially those who did not know the importance of engaging professionals in building construction.
Awobodu said, “Our zeal is poised on the fact that over the years, we have realised that our approach in curtailing the incidences of building collapse has been elitist. It has been elitist based on the fact that we have only been talking through seminars, workshops and conferences.
“But now, we have moved down to the grassroots through this first-of-its-kind awareness walk against building collapse. So, it is a sign of many good things to come.”
He stated that the approach would continue throughout the county until the desired change was achieved in the building sector.
The BCPG president identified factors such as quackery, use of substandard materials, lack of sub-soil investigation, poor workmanship, lack of enabling environment and ignorance on the part of prospective homeowners, among others, as the major causes of building collapse in the country.
According to him, the government has limitation in the number of employees to monitor construction sites throughout the state so as to prevent building collapse.
“That is the major reason we are out to augment this limitation. We are thus collaborating with relevant government agencies such as the Lagos State Building Control Agency and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria to promote standard construction and to see how we can best check the rising cases of building collapse in the state,” Awobodu added.
The Coordinator, BCPG Yaba Cell Group, Mr. Friday Chukwu, said the residents of the area had been fully sensitised to measures to prevent building collapse, adding that the awareness would continue in other parts of the state and the country in general
According to him, since the BCPG was established in 2012, its membership has been drawn from the seven built professions, artisans and CDAs, who have all raised their voices against building collapse.
