The collapse of buildings in Nigeria is a recurring issue, as there are recorded events of building collapse happening almost every year in one region of the country or another. Recently, a three-story building collapsed on Ibadan Street in the Ebute-Metta area of Lagos state.
According to reports, several residents of the collapsed building were trapped and a search rescue operation went underway to rescue the trapped victims. Findings have so far shown that the death toll from the collapsed three-story has risen to Eight (8).
Looking at all these collapsed buildings happening in the country, a careful observation of them, one will notice that some of the causes have problems ranging from Faulty construction, Faulty design, Incompetence, Bribery, and corruption, Negligence, Inferior materials, weak foundation. Some Engineers and architects out for selfish gains, use inferior materials to be able to pocket what is left from what they are given.
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A new report has identified structural defects as a major cause of the incessant building collapse in Nigeria. Statistics showed that the rate of building collapse in the country was predominant in the Southwest.
Most of these buildings are constructed with low-quality building materials. It’s shocking to note that between 2011 and 2019, a total of 84 buildings collapsed across Nigeria. Only 21 out of the 84 happened in Lagos. The case of incessant building collapse in the country could be avoided if only stakeholders in the construction industry and landlords adhere strictly to the provisions of the building code.
Recall last year, when tragedy happened in Ikoyi, Lagos state, where a 21-storey building collapsed, killing a lot of people including the owner of the building known as Mr. Femi Osibona. According to reports, it was disclosed that the ikoyi collapsed building had earlier been sealed for four months by the Lagos state government, following some defects and anomalies observed on the structure. They however stated that such defects should be corrected to avoid collapse from occurring.
It was however disclosed that the owner of the property used his connection to get his sealed building opened for work to continue. After it was opened, rather than correcting those defects which prompted the building to be sealed, he ignored the caution and commanded the engineers to keep on working on the building. Information also gotten disclosed that the Engineering company hired to construct the building withdrew from the project, stating that it no longer shared the vision with the client.
The building was initially slated for a 15-storey building, but the client insisted that they should make it a 21-storey building which eventually led to its collapse. Negligence continues to be one of the major problems of building collapse in Nigeria.
You will often see a building marked by the government, stating that occupants should evacuate because of some anomalies observed. Surprisingly, you will still get to see people living there unbothered.
A lot of buildings in Nigeria are a disaster waiting to happen. The federal government should create an enabling law to strengthen the National building code (NBC), a mandatory document adopted by the development authorities to formulate building by-laws.
The government must ensure that professionals go around cities, observing building constructions and sealing up those with structural defects. Also, those already occupied should be marked for demolition to avoid more casualties from happening in the country, and also prevent buildings from further collapsing.