Nigeria witnessed a total of 553 building collapses between 1974 and ending on April 13, 2023, according to the latest report by the Building Collapse Prevention Guild.
The report indicated that Lagos State had recorded a high collapse with over 326 buildings caving in the last 49 years.
It showed that 326 collapsed buildings in Lagos represented 59.05 per cent of a total of 553 recorded cases in the country during this period.
The report stated, “Lagos State accounts for 59.05 per cent of the recorded incidents in Nigeria. Taraba, Bayelsa, Gombe, and Yobe states had their first recorded collapse in 2022, and Zamfara has only one recorded building collapse, which happened in 2018. Also, 1971, 1975, and 1981 were years that had no recorded collapses.
“The year 2022 has had the most collapses with 62 nationwide with Lagos accounting for 20. In addition, 2023 has recorded 12 collapses so far.”
Findings by the guild revealed that professional ineptitude ranging from excessive loading, use of substandard materials, faulty design, poor workmanship and weak foundation accounted for a significant fraction of the collapses recorded during the period under review.
One of the most tragic of the cases was the 21-storey building collapse along Gerrard Road in the Ikoyi area of Lagos State on November 1, 2021.
The coroner in charge of the investigation, Chief Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe, attributed the building collapse to the irresponsibility and negligence of government agencies in charge of adhering to best practices responsible for approval and supervision of the project.
She added that the building’s density and setback on the site showed gross violations of the Lagos State Building Regulations.
The collapse claimed the lives of the owner of the property, Femi Osibona, his personal assistant, a visiting friend from the US, and a corps member of the National Youth Service Corps, among other victims.
Another unforgettable building collapse was the one that occurred at First Avenue, Banana Island in Ikoyi, Lagos, where a seven-storey building crumbled on April 12, 2023.
While speaking with journalists, the Chairman of the Lagos State Branch of the Nigeria Institute of Architects, David Majekodunmi, noted that recent research embarked upon by professionals in the building industry revealed that Lagos State currently had about 48,000 construction sites.
“That number, when crossed against an understaffed building control agency, showed a huge manpower shortage for the effective monitoring of construction sites in the state,” he said
A former President of the Nigerian Institute of Builders, Kunle Awobodu, blamed weak regulations for the incessant cases of building collapse in Lagos State.
According to him, many quacks have been emboldened by the fact that regulatory bodies and relevant apparatuses of government have been unwilling or unable to prosecute and convict persons found culpable of professional ineptitude regarding incidents of building collapse.
Awobodu said, “I was part of the committee that created some of the agencies. There is a difference between policy formulation and implementation. One of the things we discovered was that the staff strength of the building control agency was low compared to the vastness of the Lagos built environment.
“Quackery is also a major problem. To forestall the frequency of collapsed buildings, developers must submit their approval plan to undergo an approval process, including checking the structural design to identify anomalies.
“Once the approved building plans are returned to their owners, the system does not follow up to check and ensure that those who will handle the construction are professionals. So, the construction will just be given to anybody who claims to have experience in building construction.”
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