Experts under the aegis of the Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG) have renewed calls for legislative backing for the National Building Code (NBC), stronger collaboration among construction stakeholders, and greater integration of insurance and technology to tackle recurring building collapses in Nigeria.
The group stressed the urgent need for the domestication and enforcement of the NBC, particularly in states classified as hotspots of structural failures, alongside stricter enforcement of compulsory building insurance across the construction industry.
The experts made the call during a webinar titled, “Breaking Ground, Breaking Trust: Bridging the Insurance and the Construction Gap to Curb Building Collapse in Nigeria,” organised by the Ikeja Cell of BCPG in Lagos State.
Leading the charge, pioneer President of BCPG, Kunle Awobodu, lamented the prolonged delay in securing legislative backing for the NBC, describing it as critical to restoring sanity and confidence in the construction sector.
According to him, efforts over the years to secure legal backing for the code have been hampered by bureaucratic bottlenecks, despite sustained advocacy by industry professionals. “The issue of getting adequate legislative backing for the NBC has remained elusive due to bureaucratic challenges,” he said, expressing optimism that renewed commitment by stakeholders would eventually yield results.
Awobodu also underscored the growing importance of insurance in construction projects, insisting that advocacy on building insurance must be continuous and consistent.
A Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS), Mr Tomi Ogundare, attributed the failure to domesticate the NBC to a lack of political will. He urged stakeholders to identify states with high incidences of building collapse and engage lawmakers and regulatory agencies to strengthen legislation and enforcement mechanisms.
On the relevance of insurance to the construction industry, the Lead, Technical Underwriting at NSIA Insurance, Esther Odewale, emphasised that addressing building collapse requires collective responsibility.
According to her, developers, architects, regulators, material suppliers and insurers all have defined roles in preventing structural failures rather than shifting blame when disasters occur. “For me, it’s a shared liability. We should be able to identify who owns each responsibility,” she said. “Technical failures can be attributed to construction processes, risk management falls under insurance, and regulatory oversight belongs to government agencies.”
She noted that many contractors often view insurance merely as a compliance requirement, rather than a critical risk management tool. “Some people think about the premium they pay, but the cost of not having insurance is far higher,” she added, explaining that while insurance premiums are predictable, the financial and reputational impact of a building collapse is not.
Earlier, the Coordinator of the Ikeja Cell of BCPG, Dr Gbolahan Oyelakin, described building collapse as both a physical and psychological crisis that continues to erode public confidence in the real estate sector.
He stressed that the guild remains committed to advocating against structural failures nationwide.
“Building collapse is a crisis written in rubble and grief, and it is gradually eroding society’s confidence when professionals fail to act decisively,” he said.
Oyelakin explained that the theme of the webinar was designed to foster robust dialogue on bridging the gap between insurance and construction practices. “In Nigeria, breaking ground is often an act of optimism, the first step toward a home, a business and a future,” he said. “But we must move beyond treating collapses as isolated symptoms and begin to address them through collaborative, systemic solutions involving all relevant professional bodies.”
The guild maintained that only through legal backing for the NBC, stronger regulatory enforcement, and sustained collaboration among construction stakeholders can Nigeria significantly reduce the menace of building collapse.
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