Building Collapse In Nigeria: SON Spearheads With Mitigating Measures To Curb Trend

By CLEMENT NWOJI, Abuja

Nigeria has become notorious for serial building collapses to the extend that virtually no month elapses without one incident of collapse structure or the other with the associated loss of lives and properties.

This is despite in existence and interventions of concerned stakeholders and regulatory authorities such as the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) which serves as the apex standards regulator nationwide, Nigerian Institute of Builders (NIB), Lagos State Materials Testing Laboratory Agency (LSMTLA), Nigerian National Standard for Building Materials (NNSBM), Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI),
Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Architects Registration Council of Nigeria (ARCON), Nigerian Institute of Builders (NIOB) and Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA). These, among other national bodies involve in one way or the other, attempt to ensure standardisation of building and construction materials in the country in line with international best practices to preempt incidences of collapse building and the consequential losses of lives and funds invested.

Scene of the collapsed school building in Jos Plateau state.

Though statistics are replete with countless number of collapsed buildings either in the local or urban areas in Nigeria, but the most devastating are those in the urban areas because of the magnitude of losses involved. While historical data from the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRSI) indicates that between 2010 and 2021 alone, Nigeria recorded 199 building collapse incident; data from the  National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) shows that 1,072 deaths  and 387 injuries were recorded within the same period. These figures may be underestimated if taken into consideration the unreported incidences.

Suffice it to mention but few of them. On Sunday morning  of March 10, 2024, a five-storey building collapsed at  Garden Street Fegge, Onitsha, Anambra State. Even though there was no life lost but funds invested in the construction was lost. The cause of the collapse points to the developer who had obtained permit to erect three storey building, only to later exceed the limit by going further to erect five storey building.

The tragic incident of the collapse of a two-storey school building of  St. Academy School Jos, Plateau state and the killing of about 22 students, leaving 132 others injured students, still left a traumatic experience in the minds of the students. The building  collapsed at about 9:45 am while the students were in their classes writing their promotion examinations on 12 July, 2024.

On July 24, 2024, five workers died when a building under construction collapsed at 13, Wilson Mba Street, Arowojobe Estate, Maryland, Lagos. The building under construction collapsed at 3:49 am. Also, in October 27, a building collapse along Airport road within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja led to death of seven persons.

As these incidences of building collapse occur, experts have adduced some reasons responsible for the increasing waves of building collapses in Nigeria. These include Poor construction practices involving substandard materials, inadequate design, and shoddy workmanship; Lack of enforcement of building regulations through inadequate monitoring and lack of punishment for non-compliance; Aging infrastructure leading to deterioration of existing buildings due to lack of maintenance; Natural disasters like Flooding, earthquakes, and other natural occurrences; and above all, corrupt practices which entails bribery and deliberate negligence of  building approval processes.

Despite the numerous causes of building collapses nationwide, these however are not insurmountable. The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) which is the national standards body responsible for developing and promoting national standards, ensuring compliance with international standards and providing certification and testing services for the economic development of the Country, has not relented in tackling headlong the causes of the protracted problem of building collapses.
 
Towards curbing the causes of building, bridge and structure collapses, SON under the leadership of its Director General and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Ifeanyi Chukwunonso Okeke, has been engaged in enlightenment and sensitisation campaign programmes. It was kick started in the South-East geopolitical zone covering Anambra, Enugu and Imo States to create awareness on the dangers of the use of substandard building materials and noncompliance to the relevant standards in the country. The latest of which, involved partnership with the National Association of Block Moulders of Nigeria (NABMON) in continuing efforts towards enforcing building codes regulations to ensure safe and sustainable construction practices in Nigeria.

Apart from the sensitization programmes, Dr Okeke has consistently frowned at the rampant noncompliance to specifications and Codes of Practice by regulators and service providers in the building sector, which he observes constitute major reasons for the seeming erosion of confidence of Nigerians on some operators in Nigerian building and construction industry. Recently, following incessant building collapses, the SON Chief Executive Officer who advocated for stiffer penalties against culprits of collapsed structures, revealed some of the main causes of building collapses in Nigeria going by investigations conducted by SON.

According to him, some of the major causes of collapse structures include: Poor structural designs, quackery and unprofessionalism and inadequate or lack of soil testing. Others include poor construction practices and procedures, unapproved construction, wrong demolition process, lack of maintenance, negligence, use of substandard materials (steel reinforcement bars) as well as poor drainage around the collapsed buildings.

Dr. Okeke enumerated some of the Organisation’s produced 168 Standards and Codes of Practice for the building and construction industry since 2004 for contractors to implement during construction. These are Nigerian Building Code (NBC), which has been in place since 2018 and covers the design, construction and maintenance of buildings; National Building Regulations Code (1992) regulating building construction, alteration and demolition and Nigerian National Standard for Building Materials (NNSBM) established to specify requirements for building materials.

These are complemented with the Nigerian Industrial Standard (NIS) products standards and codes of practice for use by practitioners in the building sector; Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme (MANCAP) established to ensure products manufactured locally conform to the relevant standards as prescribed; Standards Organisation of Nigeria Conformity Assessment Programme (SONCAP)  which is an offshore conformity processes to ensure that imported products are tested and conforms to the relevant standards before being imported into the Country; and Product Authentication Mark (PAM) which enables Consumer to check through QR Code or Short messages the authenticity of a product before purchase.

Among other standards set by SON are:  Nigerian Industrial Standard (NIS) 117: 2004 specification for steel bars for the reinforcement of concrete; Nigerian Industrial Standard (NIS) 499: 2004 standard for iron and steel; Nigerian Industrial Standard (NIS) 588: 2007 testing hardened concrete Part 1: Method for determination of the compressive strength of concrete cores; Nigerian Industrial Standard (NIS) 585: 2007 standard for Concrete Admixtures – Part 1 – specification for accelerating admixtures, retarding admixtures and water reducing admixtures; Nigerian Industrial Standard (NIS) 156:1982 standard method for testing fresh concrete and Nigerian Industrial Standard (NIS) ISO 41001:2020 Facility Management System Standard and so on.

Notwithstanding, the measures being taken to curb the incessant building collapses, the SON management led by the Director General, Dr. Chukwunonso Okeke, believes that it is work in progress, hence the continuous efforts.