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By Maduka Nweke
Stakeholders at the 2021 Conference and Annual General Meeting of the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) held recently in Lagos, have called for stronger collaboration between builders and governments to mitigate incidence of building collapse in construction industry.
Most of the speakers at the conference believe that from time to time, workers and other innocent people have been killed in collapsed buildings. They linked all these to the inability of government at all levels to enforce rules promulgated for monitoring compliance of operators in the sectors. They also blamed the institutes for not doing enough to fish out quacks in their midst and prosecute them to deter other non-professionals from following up.
In his speech during the conference, President of NIOB, Mr. Adekunle Awobodu, said that until quacks, be they individual or corporate entities, involved in collapsed building cases are brought to book to serve as deterrents, building construction work will remain an attractive business for charlatans, but a dangerous phenomenon for the Nigerian nation.
He however noted that the norm in every organised and law abiding society or nation is the provision by the government, of building codes, enforceable through legislative backing, which codes establish minimum standards for building project delivery processes inclusive of construction. According to him, this is why procrastination in making the National Building Code operational throughout Nigeria encourages lawlessness. “Risk is deeply embedded in construction. Hence, those who are engaged in construction work must be well trained and should keep to the approved standards. Builders themselves must upgrade their knowledge to be able to perform ultimately on site.
“Professionals in the construction industry are also advised to keep to their roles and know their limitations. For instance, while architects and engineers focus on building designs, builders should concentrate on building productionmanagement. Town Planners, Land Surveyors, Quantity Surveyors and Estate Surveyors & Valuers also play important distinct roles in the building industry. The building delivery process flourishes on team work. However, each professional should be made accountable in his or her area of competence and practice. This is because construction is not a tea party,”he said.
Earlier, in his keynote address, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), noted that for not extending the punishment to both the owners of such buildings and the engaged quacks, the Institute is not helping matter because the incidents will continue. He opined that if the owners of such buildings and the quack contractors are not called to justice and charged for murder and other incidents arising therefrom, others will not learn lessons.
He said, “Apart from charging the owners of such collapsed buildings and quacks with murder the legal representatives of those who have been killed and people who have been injured are entitled to claim special, general and aggravated damages. Professional builders may also be prosecuted if they are found to be responsible for building collapse. Petitions written against professional builders for engaging in building collapse may lead to their dismissal as members of the Council of Registered Builders. Apart from losing the right to practice as a builder the Council of Registered Builders may recommend the prosecution of erring builders.
“The prosecution of quacks and erring builders is not limited to their involvement in the collapse of the houses of private owners. Builders engaged by public authorities are liable to be prosecuted in case of building collapse.
