She spoke during an event themed ‘Prevention of building collapse: A collective responsibility’ in Ikeja, Lagos.
“Right now, we have a list of almost 300 suspected buildings. This is based on our own visual inspection.”
According to her, statistics showed that the incidence of building collapse has reduced compared to last year.
While speaking on reasons for marking buildings under construction, she said preventing building collapse was the duty of everyone.
She said, “The initial thing we do is visual inspection. If we carry out visual inspection of your property and we believe that it appears distressed, that is the initial thing; it is not a scientific thing.
“Then, we will mark it and serve you the necessary services and tell you to go and conduct your non-destructive integrity test.
“Some will ignore and some will comply. When you comply and you have gone for your test, the next thing is to engage an engineer to do a complete structural assessment of your property and submit that report to us.
“If they have carried out their report and have been cleared, they can go on with their building.
“But on the other aspect, if it fails, we tell you immediately, this property needs to be removed. Then we take all the necessary steps to ensure that nobody files any legal matter against us.”
She added that forfeiture occurs if the owner allows the building to collapse, but there would not be forfeiture in removal if it is done in a timely manner.
NIOB to partner Lafarge on alternative materials research
The Nigerian Institute of Building has called for collaborative research and production of alternative building materials.
The NIOB President, Kunle Awobodu, made the call when he led a delegation on a courtesy visit to Lafarge Plc in Lagos.
He suggested exploring ways to collaborate and promote mutually beneficial goals for the two organisations and ultimately, a positive impact on the Nigerian construction industry.
Awobodu said that the NIOB had a large reservoir of research resources, efforts and outputs, adding that some builders were continuously researching locally available materials that did not produce inferior performance results to the conventional ones.
He said, “One of such areas of research is the use of ‘pozzolana’, rice husk ash and corn cob ash as a partial replacement for cement.
“We have equally started preconstruction activities on a world class materials research centre at the Federal Capital Territory.”
Beyond publicising the research efforts and outputs of researchers in building materials, the president further stated that the utilisation of the research outputs in the production of cement would increase affordability as well as drive costs down.
He added that by the law of large numbers, it would also help the profitability and bottom line of manufacturers making it a win-win to all stakeholders and the society at large.
The Chairman of NIOB Research and Development Committee, Prof. Kolapo Eleka, explained that the development of Nigerian standards for such pozzolanic cement and other locally available materials was one of the steps necessary in manufacturing and utilisation.
The Chairman of Association of Builders in Academia, Prof. Martin Dada, also said using some of the alternative materials would promote profitability, noting that it would take efforts and resources to relocate the waste generated from a building demolished.
The Country Chief Executive Officer of Larfarge Plc, Khaled El Dokani, with his team comprising the Commercial Director, Gbenga Onimowo and the Head, Technical Products and Innovation, Femi Yusuff, welcomed the proposal.
El Dokani further raised the issue of reuse of items recovered from demolished or deconstructed buildings, thereby promoting sustainability and reduction of carbon footprint.
LAFARGE NIOB
The Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr Idris Salako, has urged residents to cooperate with the state on the reconstruction of Isuti road in Alimosho Local Government Area in Lagos
He spoke during the stakeholders’ meeting for the reconstruction of Isuti road in Lagos.
While speaking on the takeoff of the reconstruction project, he said the state was making remarkable progress in the area of infrastructural renewal of the state.
Salako said, “To this end, I urge members of the Isuti, Egan, Igando and adjoining communities as well as the entire Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State to give their unalloyed support to the organisation and personnel that will be involved in the project.
“These include staff of the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development who shall have to establish the Right of Way for the project to berth smugly and deliver the expected benefits of improved transportation and interconnectivity within the state as well as enhanced property value among others.”
He assured that throughout the duration of the project, which he was confident would be completed as specified on time, efforts would be made to minimise any inconvenience that may arise.
The commissioner said removal of structures to pave way for the road, where necessary, would be strictly adhered to as a matter of necessity and subject to payment of compensation as applicable.