Why are the new buildings collapsing and the old ones still standing firmly? This question discombobulates me a lot. Is it the fault of the client by not providing enough funds to carry out the construction work or the person responsible to carry out the construction work? Why is it that even storey buildings in ancient cities like Zaria, Timbuktu, Kano that were unsophisticatedly constructed using mud by self- taught people of those days are still standing?

In Nigeria, most of the contractors are after money instead of making name for the company, they go for substandard materials just to maximize profit without considering the potential risk and imminent disaster they are putting the occupants into.

It is obvious that the government has turned a blind eye on this matter, by allowing those responsible to go unpunished. Isn’t that blatant lack of respect for human lives? The so called building code should not just be like a piece of trash in the hands of the legislators passing it from one assembly to the other without implementation.

The way projects are being carried out in this country is totally different form how it’s done in other countries. In United States for example it took them ten years to plan the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge linking Marin County, California to San Francisco. The Notre Dame Cathedral which was built more than 700 years ago, Empire State Building built in 1931, and they are still standing strong. I doubt if there is any building constructed in Nigeria that is not more than ten years old which has not developed cracks or dampness.

All we adopt is the fire brigade approach of solving problems (reactive response). We only see registered body like COREN, CORBON and the rest of them making verbose address on television after a building has collapsed, which in my own perspective is nothing but a medicine after death. That is just the bitter truth.

By Aminu Alhassan (Yababa)

In my opinion, I think this is majorly a failure of institutions. The lack of enforcement of the laws. As it is, the problem cuts across from the client to the contractor/builders.

I'm a COREN registered civil engineer and have been into design and construction for a little over 5 years and in that time, I've observed a few things I think has the potential of leading to collapse.

DESIGN: By design I'm referring to the structural drawing or the calculation that's done to get the sizes of the structural elements (beams, slabs, pad footings etc) that's to support the building. If a structural element is undersized or under-reinforced with steel you can almost expect it to fail when subjected to maximum loading condition. However, I've found clients are not always willing to pay for this service but rather resort to seeking draftsmen who just produce the drawings for them without any knowledge on how the calculations are carried out. Some of the draftsmen have fake COREN seal which the imprint on the drawing for approval with the town planning authorities. Even some registered engineers will put their stamp imprint on drawings for a fee without checking to see if the detailed drawings is accurate or going through the calculation sheets. So, with faulty design, an inexperienced builder will follow this and produce a poor quality job.

APPROVAL: This is the job of the town planning authorities across local government's in each state. Theirs is to approve the drawings as fit for construction and carryout proper documentations for future references. I do not need to say much about these people since you are in Nigeria.

CONSTRUCTION: This is where the services of the building construction professionals are needed. From my experience, the clients usually employs the services of a civil engineer, an architect or a builder to the role of a general contractor. his/her roles mainly are
> Be a registered member of the building profession (COREN, ARCON, NIOB)
> Determine the type of soil on site and if it's stable enough to support the building or if the design should be changed
> Sufficient knowledge of the skilled tradesmen jobs to be able to supervise them.
> Ability to read the drawings and transfer said information on ground.
> Ability to carry out minor structure design when clients makes minor change order to the architectural drawings
> Carry out routine site safety inspection works before any construction activity on site
> Have sufficient knowledge of the various building materials, how they behave and how to identify the substandard ones

The skill level and experience of the professional goes a long way to determine the quality of job to be delivered. However, it costs money and time to attain these hence the skilled experts tend to charge more for their services. Clients are however looking for those offering the same services at lower price points. What some builders do is to cut down on their service fees and try to recoup it back during the construction process.

In conclusion, to reduce the incidents of building collapse the responsibility rests majorly on the client as we already know how weak our institutions are. The potential loss of lives and properties of the inhabitants and the opportunity cost from investment loss should make the clients do their due diligence when embarking on this activity. They should seek for information and follow due process as regards the building procurement process and most importantly go for a binding legal contract.

Do need a cost estimate for your building project or are you just looking more information, you can write to me
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Cheers!