Regulators endorse ministerial committee’s agenda to end building collapse

• As minister pledges new framework, standards

A High-level meeting of regulatory bodies in the built environment has met with the ministerial committee on building collapse and agreed on a five-point agenda that would bring sanity to the country’s construction industry.

The engagement marks a significant step forward in the ministry’s ongoing efforts to enhance the safety and integrity of Nigeria’s built environment, ensuring that the tragic loss of lives and property due to building collapses becomes a thing of the past.

The meeting chaired by the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa had in attendance leadership of regulatory bodies such as the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON), Town Planners Registration Council (TOPREC), Architects Registration Council of Nigeria (ARCON), Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria (ESVARBON), Quantity Surveyors Registration Board of Nigeria (QSRCON), Surveyors Council of Nigeria (SURCON), and other vital stakeholders.

Among the recommendation was the creation of a robust legal framework requiring developers to produce essential production information documents, such as the project quality management plan, construction programme, and project health and safety plan.

They also recommended the reconstitution of the National Building Code Advisory, which is tasked with advancing the legal framework of the National Building Code through the National Assembly. The meeting also sought a comprehensive review of the Acts establishing ARCON, CORBON, and TOPREC to enhance their effectiveness in curbing quackery and other unprofessional practices.

They also agreed on the implementation of strict punitive measures and sanctions for professional negligence, ensuring that state planning/development control departments or agencies are staffed with competent professionals in approval roles and mandating contractors to employ qualified professionals, as well as implementing measures for prosecuting culprits.

Earlier, Dangiwa reiterated his commitment to tackling the persistent issue of building collapses in the country and emphasised that such incidents, which result in the tragic loss of lives and property, are entirely unacceptable.

“I am committed to taking all necessary steps to address and curb the alarming recurrence of building collapses in our country. We must establish a system that ensures compliance with standards by all stakeholders in the building process, along with mechanisms to identify and prosecute those responsible for these failures.

“It was a highly insightful strategic session, and I was pleased to hear the valuable perspectives, previous studies, and recommendations from the leaders of various regulatory bodies. I have tasked them with collaborating with the committee to develop actionable steps that we can implement to make a meaningful difference,” he said.

He urged the committee to work with relevant bodies to develop a checklist of professionals involved in the construction process. “The checklist must ensure quality assurance of the design, concrete quality, and soil tests before the construction, who designed the building, certified the designer, approved the design and supervised the construction, which will enable us to identify those culpable, as well as stopping the embarrassing tide of building collapse in the country.

“Once there is a building collapse, we should immediately move there, and identify those responsible. Once that is done, we can independently sit down and know the culprit with tangible evidence that the person is at fault, either the design or the professional not certified or development control has not given approval, or it was converted to a different use.”

Earlier, Chairman, Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON), Samson Opaluwah, commended the minister’s laudable achievements, adding, “We had incidents of building collapse, but nothing was done by the past administration and the ministry.

Opaluwah told the minister that many of the regulators are advocating the implementation of punitive measures on those found guilty to curb the menace of building collapse in the country. He, however, called on the ministry to resuscitate the technical schools for the training of more artisans, carpenters and technicians, who could read and follow specifications in the drawings.