• Archbishop Martins condoles, kicks against compromising building standards
• Experts figure out causes, probable solutions
By Neta Nwosu
Most Rev. (Dr.) Alfred Adewale Martins, Archbishop of the Metropolitan See of Lagos has expressed his condolences over the loss of lives in the Ikoyi building collapse in Lagos. Archbishop Martins’ sympathies were conveyed in a statement signed by Very Rev. Fr. Anthony Godonu, Director of Social Communications, Archdiocese of Lagos. On Monday, November 1, 2021, a 21-storey building collapsed in the Ikoyi area of Lagos, trapping over 50 people. With the rescue mission almost complete, 44 people have been found dead with dozens injured in the disaster that has caused outrage in Nigeria. The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, disclosed this on Sunday.
The previous day when he visited the site in the company of All Progressives Congress, APC, National Leader, Bola Tinubu, Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State and some state executive members, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Lagos State Governor had revealed that 42 deaths and 15 survivors had been recorded so far. The disaster claimed the lives of the developer of the collapsed high-rise, billionaire Olufemi Adegoke Osibona, Managing Director of Fourscore Heights Limited (FHL) and his friend, Wale Bob-Oseni, a United States of America-based Nigerian businessman, among others. In the release, Archbishop Martins also sympathized with all those who sustained various degrees of injuries as a result of the collapse building. He said such an unfortunate incident and similar cases could have been prevented with proper regulation and strict monitoring by the relevant supervisory authorities.
The Archbishop described the several incidents of collapsed buildings in Lagos state in recent times and other parts of the country as alarming and called for closer monitoring of those involved in the construction industry so as to curb the use of inferior materials and other unprofessional practices often associated with the industry practitioners. He called on the regulatory agencies to reject the culture of comprise on standard, which ultimately undermines the integrity of buildings and result in avoidable dead and injury. The prelate welcomed the idea of a three-day mourning period and hoped that it would make us reflect on the value of human life, so that no one would engage in practices and activities that would jeopardize human life and dignity any more.
He expressed delight that the government set up an independent Panel of inquiry made up of professionals from outside of government circle as that would inspire the sort of confidence that the result of their inquiry may throw up. He said: “We hope that as the panel unravels the immediate and remote causes of the collapse, it would also identify ways of ensuring that we do not experience such disasters again while those culpable for this one would be brought to book.” The latest collapse of the building named Gerrard Terraces is quite tragic. Reports indicate that the collapse might have been avoidable. Even though the cause of the collapse is yet to be ascertained, evidence from the Lagos State government shows that the developer of the building located at 20 Gerard Road, Ikoyi, flouted building permits. In a letter making the rounds issued to Fourscore Height Limited (FHL) on April 5, 2019, with registration number IV/2019/ DO/033/67 and permit number DCB/DO/2442IV on April 9, 2019, the structure was originally approved for 15 floors, not 21. But the building stood tall as a 21-storey edifice before it crumbled.
A year ago, Prowess Engineering Limited, the original contractor for the building, in a circulating letter dated February 20, 2020, notified Fourscore Homes Limited that it was withdrawing its services on the now collapsed building. Grapevine has it that Prowess dumped the project after the FHL allegedly decided to extend the floors to 21 from 15. Prowess stated in the said letter, “We arrived at this decision due to the fact that we no longer share the same vision with you as our client in terms of how the project is being executed.” This development instantly fetched Mr. Gbolahan Oki, General Manager of Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), indefinite suspension. Prof. Danladi Matawal, a former Director-General, Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI) and former Chairman, FCT Building Collapse Panel hit hard at both the Lagos State Government and Prowess. In a written statement on the disaster, Matawal said, “First, a personality as high as Deputy Governor of Lagos (Femi Hamzat) confirmed on camera that the building was approved for 21 storeys. “Secondly, the practice we established when I chaired the FCT Panel is to immediately arrest and put behind bars the Building Owner and for him to identify all the professional teams involved.
“The letter of a consultant withdrawing should be subjected to further scrutiny and confirmation because under desperation, such letter can easily be generated and back dated. “Why did they not report their reservations to professional regulators and if true, they may have withdrawn for non-payment and not technical reasons. “We established a procedure to identify ongoing, existing buildings and construction sites owned by the same client, designers and contractors. We sealed immediately and got them subjected to integrity tests. “As I posted on my Factbook page, 21 storeys is no mean height. Anyone involved should have ensured a water-tight readiness for the work. “Site Investigations, Designs, Construction Competence, Supervision and Independent Professional Critique Reviews and constant site meetings where decisions are taken. Approvals issues, including casting and test results, are discussed. “Finally, the FCT Panel instituted a standard practice, irrespective of outcome of investigations, that every Collapsed Building Site automatically becomes the property of government to put up a public facility and no longer owned by any private developer.
” The rising status of Lagos as an emerging megacity and a commercial nerve centre has come with a number of challenges. One of them is building failure. Building collapse has become common in Lagos. Hardly a year passes without cases. Statistics show that the highest number of cases in Lagos was reported in 2011, 2012 and 2019 when 19, 14, and 17 buildings respectively collapsed. 152 buildings, mostly residential collapsed in Lagos between 2005 and 2020. Building professionals say the causes of collapse range from unqualified or unskilled builders; substandard building materials; illegal conversion or alternations to existing structures, negligence, foundation failures, extraordinary loads and lack of maintenance. The collapsed Gerrard Terraces was designed to be completed in 2022. Each unit sells for between $1.2million and $5million and as at the time of collapse, 65 per cent was confirmed
…Likely causes of collapse: Experts speak
Experts have been trying to figure out what caused the 21-storey Gerrard Terraces to crumble into a tangled heap of rubble and steel on November 1, 2021. It has been a mixed grill of blame game among professional stakeholders in the building industry and probable solutions to forestall future occurrence traceable to many factors such as the use of substandard materials, faulty construction, negligence, quackery, corruption and sabotage. High incidence of building collapse could be attributed to poor supervision, use of inferior materials – NBBRI The Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI), has attributed the high incidence of building collapse in the country to poor supervision and the use of inferior materials in the construction of buildings.
It buttresses the position of David Majekodunmi, the state chairman of the Nigerian Institute of Architects, who earlier decried lack of strict building regulations by the government and regulatory bodies, as reasons for the collapse of the Ikoyi building. Majekodunmi, speaking with the media recently, faulted the Project Board at the construction site of the building, noting that the numbers on the board showed that the same person was the consultant and the architect. “If the regulatory bodies had seen this board and done the needful, maybe we would be able to know who we are accusing or who to hold responsible for this mayhem,” Majekodunni said. SON lacks the desired capacity to address the issue of fake and sub-standard materials – George Akinola George, President Building Collapse Guild (BCPG), has attributed most building collapse to the use of poor quality building materials. Expressing worries over the startling rate at which sub-standard materials have infiltrated the building industry, George stated that fake building products have contributed immensely to building failures in Nigeria and the issue should be appropriately tackled.
The issue of sub-standard materials in the construction and building industry in Nigeria has been on the front burner in all medium of communication emanating from the professional bodies, government agencies, scholars and all building stake holders… The way and manner substandard materials permeate into every facet of building industry in Nigeria is endemic and curbing it has posed a rather herculean task to the government ministries or agencies saddled with such responsibility. The varieties of standards in our market today leaves one wondering if Nigeria as it were, ever had any form of standard(s) as to what is either locally fabricated or imported into Nigeria and yet there is an agency of the government called Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON). SON is the apex regulatory body in Nigeria established under Act No. 14, 2015. The architect noted that regulatory agencies like the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) lack the desired capacity to address the issue of fake and sub-standard materials such as reinforcing steel, nails and other related materials.
Recommending the need for the establishment of the Lagos state building code enforcement officers to enforce the National building code, the BCPG President decried the effects of the rising costs that have led to the quality of many building materials being compromised. In his words, “A clear example is the iron rod in the market. The standard 12mm in diameter, has now been replaced with 10mm and the length is not of standard. You have these compromises and the result can only be a failure. A lot of people don’t patronize people trained to build. Professionals are not preparing most of the buildings in Lagos state.” George charged the government to fashion out ways to address the menace of myriad of sub-substandard and poor quality that have eaten deep into the fabric of the building industry. Many experts have recommended that the Standards Organization of Nigeria should be vigilant to ensure that building materials imported into the country conforms to standard requirements.
The BCPG also called also on the stakeholders, including the government, to address the compromises and loopholes in the building development process. He advised the Lagos state government to up its game in effective monitoring and planning. “When you get to town planning offices and you need to get approvals, the system itself is corrupt and you might have gratification here and there to approve buildings that are not of standard. When a building is under construction, the government has to exercise a supervisory role on how the building is built, whether the officials at building agencies are intimidated or co-opted in terms of the system corruption that we have. One way or the other, developers in town escape with murder,” he said. Compromises at several levels culminating in the tragic collapse of the massive structure – Tanko Building professionals, both in private practice and government agencies have been found to be more often guilty of lack of proper supervision, inspection and monitoring of construction works.
Reacting to the issue, Dr. Jang Tanko, National Chairman of the Nigerian Institution of Civil Engineers (NICE), while welcoming the setting up of a panel of inquiry to investigate the cause of the collapse, advised that the panel should be headed by a civil or structural engineer, as building failure is primarily due to structural deficiency. Tanko disclosed, “Our preliminary investigation has shown compromises at several levels culminating in the tragic collapse of the massive structure. The frequent collapse of buildings in Nigeria has again brought to the fore, the failure of regulatory authorities in enforcing building contract laws, especially the involvement of quacks and incompetent hands in the building industry thereby endangering lives and monumental resources. We will collaborate with the Council for Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) for a thorough technical investigation into the collapse and offer professional services to the government in this onerous task.” LABCA and the Ministry of Physical Planning can’t exonerate themselves from this problem – Oluyemi Illegal conversion, alteration, and additions to existing structures have led to building collapse.
Imposing additional floors beyond original design provision is a common practice in Nigeria that has again resulted in structural failure. Speaking on the collapse, Mr. Oludayo Oluyemi, immediate past National Chairman of the Nigeria Institution of Highway and Transportation Engineers, observed that this was the highest structural failure to have occurred in Nigeria. He wondered what the Lagos State building regulatory agencies were doing when the builder continued to raise the building that was supposedly approved for 15 storeys. He said that the developers might have applied for additional storeys on the building, adding that the people have not heard from them to draw conclusion as to what might have gone wrong. “If he got the approval for 15 and was doing 21, what were the Lagos state regulatory agencies like LABCA and the Ministry of Physical Planning doing when he was doing this extension, if there was no approval. “So they can’t exonerate themselves from this problem. For any building above five storeys, the ministry of physical planning ought to know which engineer is working on it, they should have their details. “But as of now, they have not been able to point at any structural engineering firm to be responsible for the mess being created.’’ Oluyemi called on the Lagos State government to get some competent engineers together to look at the project and find out where errors had been committed, adding that this should be done in conjunction with COREN and the Nigerian Society of Engineers. “So we should put our heads together and look at where the errors have been committed and how to avoid such errors in the future.’’