Adebayo Adenrele
The Chief Lecturer in Building Technology Department of the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, Builder Garba Saadu Olorunoje has called on Nigerian government to stop awarding contracts to uncertified Builders in order to minimise the pedigree of building collapse in the country.
Garba made this call today during his lecture tagged “Building Failure in Nigeria: The unending Phenomenon” at the 24th Professor Edward K. Obiakor Inaugural Lecture in the Institution.
Garba noted that uncertified Builders are the ones staining the dignity of professional Builders in the Country, adding that there should be an Inspector to monitor anyone who wants to build in order to control mishaps.
He cited the collapse of a multi-storey building at Ikoyi on 1st November, 2021 which claimed 42 lives as national disaster, as well as the Synagogue Church of All Nations(SCOAN) on 12th September, 2014 in Lagos State, where 116 people, including South Africans perished after the collapse.
In his words, “Take your contract to Certified Builders, not who are using the profession as side hustle. How would you call a Carpenter to build house for you when you have Professional Builders you can call on?”
“Medical Doctor can lose a life at the Hospital and be forgiven but a single mistake by a Builder can claim many lives.”
“The Government is also faulty in some areas. They should be giving their contract to Certified Builders.”
“We suppose to have inspector whenever we want to build house, he will be the one to monitor and correct things whenever there is mistake so that the building won’t collapse in the long run.”
“Take the collapse of a multi-storey building at Ikoyi on 1st November, 2021 which claimed 42 lives as an example.”
“Also, the synagogue Church, where 116 people died, including South Africans who came, it was a national disaster. Even the Builders couldn’t show up because of the shame the scenario brought on the profession.” He said
While commending the Lecturer, the Rector of the Institution, Egnr Dr. Dayo Hephzibah Oladebeye lamented over lives that were being lost to building collapse in the nation, adding that people should minimise its pedigree by awarding contracts to certified builders.
“I want to advise us reduce or minimise the incidences of building collapse by employing certified builders to build our houses.”
“It’s good for our nation because many lives have been lost through some of these of collapsed buildings.”
“Any single mistake of a Builder or an engineer will lead to loss of so many lives, in contrary to a Medical Doctor who loses one of two lives at a time.”
“So, for our country, we can’t afford to continue to lose lives of people who would have contributed immersedly to the development of this nation to building collapse.”