The Chairman of the Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria, Samson Opaluwah, in an interview with DAMILOLA AINA, speaks on how construction sites fail to implement approved plans, the lack of technical schools, and the implications of frequent building collapse in the country
Quackery was formerly identified as a major cause of building collapse in the country but that has changed with the latest incidents indicting professionals. What is your reaction to this?
Quackery is one of the reasons but majorly when a building collapses, stakeholders, especially the actors on the building site have to be examined to know who played what role and who didn’t play his role. Recent incidences have shown that there is an evident lack of appropriate professionals who play their roles correctly and efficiently. Every member of the built environment profession has a specific role on a construction site and if you play the role of another professional, it could cause a collapse because you are not licensed to do that.
The fact is that when you don’t follow the rule of law, things like this are bound to happen. There are roles for engineers on a building project, a role for quantity surveyors, builders and architects, etc. So, who is playing what role? Any mismatch on this can cause a collapse.
In the Gwarimpa incident, there are issues that have to be addressed. If the area is a green area and earmarked by town planners, at what point did it change to a place of physical development or a place to erect a building?
If the processes of design and approval were followed, there is no problem. We can build anywhere. Actually, as a builder, I can build anywhere even on water. It is the design and the construction methodology/technology that matters. It is the designing of an appropriate structure that matters. It doesn’t matter what type of ground. That is why we have subsoil investigation, geotechnical engineering and the like, to ensure the correct foundation of any structure. If you design for the appropriate location, it will work but since it is a green area, the question is, did they build the wrong structure there? And if they did, who approved it?
The information I have is that no builder was involved. Imagine such a building project going on in Abuja, the Federal Capital of Nigeria, and there is no builder on site.
Building is a distinct profession for experts who build houses of whatever size and complexity. If there is no reason for the expertise, there would not have been a course called building. It would not have been regarded as a profession in many countries of the world.
First, when there is a building collapse, it is a chaotic environment and the immediate response is to save lives. Most often during the melee, evidence of the collapsed building is lost or tampered with. But as builders, we support emergency agencies. Our main interest is why did it happen? This we can investigate forensically by calling for the approved and production management documents.
Questions will be asked on how the contractor or developer is implementing the project. Are the four professional builders’ practice tools that include construction programme and scheduling; project quality management plans; construction methodology/technology and project health and safety plans deployed on the project? Who prepared them? Were they in use? We have to check if they are proper and fit for what is being built on that particular site.
One of the challenges in construction is getting qualified and appropriate personnel on-site.
Secondly, because they are not qualified for the job, they are not regulated. And when you are not registered by any professional body, you are not obliged to obey their code of conduct.
Our society must learn to respect our laws and recognise expertise, training and experience. It will save us a lot of heartaches.
The Project Evaluation & Monitoring Unit established by CORBON is a public service. It is simply to go to a building site, inspect, monitor and find out whether you are doing the right thing. This was even resisted at the beginning. So, you can see the society we live in because people don’t want to comply with the law. If you are complying with the regulations, why would you not allow inspectors who are to monitor and advise on compliance?
Before a project is approved by the planning authorities, the developer must have submitted all construction documents as evidence of what is needed to effectively and successfully implement that project. The issue is, what the developer presented, is that what he is building on site? If it is not, there is a gap in what he is building. Who then monitors to ensure compliance? Government is not able to be on every site for eight hours every day, every week all over the country. That is why professional bodies are needed to assist in ensuring compliance.
Cases of substandard materials are becoming rampant, is this part of the problem?
Yes, the use of substandard building materials is part of the problem. Even the clothing we wear is of various quality these days. There could be five types of a particular material in the Nigerian market. The regulation of the quality of building materials is very important. Today, if you visit any building material market and ask for a certain material, if you don’t have a discerning and trained eye, you will be given lower quality for the same specification. The implication is that if these substandard products continue to flood our market, we will continue to witness building collapse.
Moreover, an agency of the Federal Government is supposed to control the quality of building materials but even cement is now adulterated with sand or sawdust. It is that bad. I believe that there is a need for a collaborative effort between the professional regulatory bodies and the Standard Organisation of Nigeria on this.
There must be a quality management plan prepared by a builder for every building project. A collapse will possibly happen not because the developer doesn’t know what to do but because of substandard material or improper placement or even poor handling.
Experts claimed the National Building Code is ineffective in solving pertinent problems faced in the industry. How can this be resolved?
The code is very effective, the only issue is people are not applying it. The building is an international endeavour. Everywhere humans live, they build their habitation. Every country is building and there is always a code of practice. There is nothing we are doing here that other people are not doing and vice versa. The National Building Code has disaggregated the entire process of the building, stating how every process should be done professionally by specific experts in the built environment industry. But as long as it is not enforced, it cannot be effective. The Federal Government can’t singularly enforce it because it is on the concurrent list, which means that the states have to enact laws to back the code.
Most states follow the footprint of the National Assembly and that is why we are advocating that National Assembly enact a law so that other states will follow suit. Three states have already enacted it. The professional bodies have said that this is how building construction should be done in our country. The Federal Government has approved it. That is our National Building Code.
The council recently inducted 373 builders. What does this mean for the built environment?
We can say we have more people who are qualified and trained builders in Nigeria. We have increased the stock by 373, which is also our single largest number inducted in one day so far. This is in response to the fact that we need more builders in our economy and their impact will be felt all over the country.
CORBON will also induct more this year as candidates qualify for professional registration. They are aware of their roles and responsibilities and the sanctions that await them if they do anything to the contrary.
The FCT minister ordered the arrest of officials culpable in the collapse of the Gwarimpa building. Is that a possible solution after exhausting other options?
As professionals, we have a weight of responsibility that we carry and we have signed an oath of professional conduct. We are obliged to keep to the law and protect society. The law says, for anyone that contravenes, an investigation panel is set up and if they find reasons, it will be taken to the professional body’s tribunal, which will in turn sanction those culpable. Quacks, they should be charged under applicable laws.
Sanctions remain the best action because they will serve as deterrents to others. We don’t like to use the hammer but if you contravene, appropriate sanctions will be meted out to you.
People who don’t implement approved plans lack integrity. Whatever excuse they have does not change the commitment made to the government, their profession and society.
CORBON has endorsed the action of the FCT minister to take decisive action on those found culpable in that collapse. We have also offered to assist in the investigation and prosecution. It is, however, necessary for an investigation to be carried out to ascertain who did what so that we are very sure and handle those responsible and use them as an example.
There is a dearth of technical schools. How is the council addressing the perceived knowledge gap between artisans and professionals?
The challenge with the dearth of technicians is historical. There was a time we didn’t have this challenge and a change in our educational system caused this. Our current system of 6-3-3-4 led to a decline in the production of artisans, technicians and technologists as technical education was derogated as being for those with low intellect. You realise that at that age, no one wants to be seen as less than normal. So, the majority opted for secondary education and technical education was looked down upon.
What are the likely implications of frequent collapses witnessed in the country?
There should be no reason for buildings to collapse except if it is a natural occurrence like the earthquake in Turkey, etc.
Our profession is such that we don’t expect failure. There is a big factor of safety in construction. Hence, the need for builders and safety plans. This is because the implication of building collapse in Nigeria means that nobody is sure of safety when he is under any roof in our country.
