By Maduka Nweke
Professionals in the built environment under the auspices of Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG) have come hard on property developers appealing to them to minimize the incessant abnormalities recorded in the course of construction in the country.
The Professionals that include but not limited to Town Planners, (Land) Surveyors, Architects, Engineers, Quantity Surveyors, Builders, and Estate Surveyors & Valuers came together to form a coalition named Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG) in 2011. The huge membership drawn from across different localities and reticulated into various cell formations, said the abnormal and unacceptable situation became a concern to those in the built environment professional services.
In a memorandum signed by the duo of Mr. Sulaimon Yusuf and Mrs. Adenike Ayanda, President and Secretary respectively, the group said, “When the 7-storey building collapsed at Banana Island, Ikoyi, Lagos on April 12, 2023, killing a person and in a quick succession, another one, a 3- storey building collapsed on Sunday, April 23, 2023, at the GRA, Apapa, Lagos (45, Ladipo Oluwole Street) the holy month of Lent /Easter and Ramadan/Eid-ul-Fitri seemed desecrated. Death or injury could have been associated with the Apapa building collapse if not for the Eid-ul- Fitri holiday observed by the construction workers”.
Yusuf however said, for building collapse to have occurred in highbrow locations around this sacred period, an auspicious time to intensify the evangelism against building collapse and stir the conscience of those who are currently the domineering factor in the Nigerian Housing sector shows it has reached crisis dimensions.
He said, those two buildings collapsed while under construction, and they were being constructed by developers. “The recurring decimal brings to mind the 4-storey building, under construction, that collapsed at 4th Avenue, Gwarimpa Estate, Abuja on February 2, 2023, resulting in the death of 2 persons ; 9-storey building, under construction, that collapsed at Oniru Estate, Victoria Island, Lagos on September 4, 2022, recording 4 deaths; and the 20- storey building, also under construction, that collapsed at Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos on November 1, 2021, claiming the lives of the developer and 51 others. Many got injured in these incidents. All the aforementioned buildings flouted building approval regulations,”he noted.
He remarked that Real estate and housing development have become an alternative booming business for investors following the collapse of the stock exchange and manufacturing in Nigeria. He regretted that so many business-oriented people, who possess nil training in building construction have flooded the nation’s construction sphere with little respect for professionalism and due process.
“When there are no eligibility criteria, requirements or qualifications that restrict admission into a sensitive and critical sector, the consequence will endanger the much-cherished human life and property. And in ‘all comers affair’, where professional advice is hardly adhered to as profiteering is elevated above safety, compromise becomes the order of the day.
“The ubiquitousness of our members was to augment the low capacity of the government staff at monitoring the massive expanse of developed and rapidly developing built environment. The extensive BCPG network enabled information on substandard building construction works and distressed buildings get to the notice of the relevant government staff. The system was result-oriented, effective, and still subsisted in a unity and sincerity of purpose.
“When people are passionate about a cause, performance in a voluntary service becomes remarkable. What could have motivated BCPG members into doing a work that lacked material gains? In this global village, every news of building collapse causes an incalculable damage to the reputation of the Nigerian built environment professional. He or she is regarded as inferior in the eye of foreign counterparts.