From: Sola Ojo, Kaduna
The Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) has hinged the incessant building collapse and flooding disasters in the country on inadequate engagement of certified engineers by governments at all levels in building and urban planning activities.
Chairman of NSE, Kaduna Branch, Engineer Abdulrasheed Babalola, who stated this while briefing newsmen on this year’s engineering week, in Kaduna, noted that the issue of building collapse would become history in the country and Kaduna State, in particular, only if the state government could give the Society the opportunity to present solutions to the challenge.
According to Babalola, at a recent roundtable discussion with the Kaduna State Urban Planning and Development Agency, (KASUPDA) which is the regulatory body for building industry in the state, NSE was given the opportunity to participate in the review of the operations manual.
“In that meeting, we came up with a position to divide the state among engineers and proposed to have neighbourhood engineers around at every area that needed development such as building structures and so on.
“Citizens must consult a neighbourhood engineer who will be the one to be responsible for any challenge that may be faced by such building in future. This is the position of NSE in the state. If this is considered by the state government and NSE is given the opportunity, I assure residents of the state that the issue of building collapse is going to become history.
“I tell you all facilities you see everywhere in the country is more than 95 per cent engineering, including cars.
We have a lot of solutions put on the table and we are also interested in discussing it with Governor Nasir el-Rufai if given the opportunity to see him on Thursday” he posited.
On flooding, Babalola described the phenomenon as one of the devastating natural disasters in the world claiming more lives and property than could be imagined saying, 20 percent of Nigeria’s populace is at risk of one form of flooding or the other.
Babalola further said that, flooding are caused by the combination of both natural and human activities which include climate change with intense rainfall, typography of the area, urbanization and population growth and poor environmental management among others.
He disclosed that so many consultations have been made and a committee on solutions to flood was set up in earnest headed by reputable engineers and many other societies were also invited to present their positions and NSE communique was communicated with the Governor. The issue is were the recommendations used?