NICE Seeks Stricter Regulatory Framework For Buildings

Following last week’s collapse of 5 storey building housing a private primary school and other businesses in Lagos, Nigeria Institution of Civil Engineers (NICE), Lagos State chapter has asked regulatory authorities in the Built-Environment sector to implement stricter regulatory authority to sanitise the sector.


They urged government to do much more to ensure that regulatory authorities are empowered to discharge their duties and also punish infractions to rein in discipline and sanity in the sector.

Chairman, NICE, Lagos branch, Mrs. Lola Adetona has absolved engineers of culpability in the spate of building collapses in Lagos, but rather blamed quacks who venture into the construction sector without the prerequisite knowledge of the complexities in the sector.

In a session with The Nation in Lagos she maintained that a quack would never know the right mix of ratio and aggregates of concrete and sand nor be able to supervise a construction site effectively and should therefore not be allowed under any condition to superintend such process.

The NICE chairman, lamented that quacks has taken over their jobs as some would -be clients prefer to deal with them citing cost implications.

On the school building that collapsed, she wondered how a school could have been allowed to be situated in that building in such an environment, wondering how they got the necessary approvals from the relevant government ministries and agencies.

Adetona revealed that from their investigations the building was originally a residential and wondered how it was allowed to accommodate a school and other businesses noting that there is a wide difference between a residential and a commercial building in terms of design and load.

She said: “The load design for residential buildings are different from commercial buildings and if the order is changed without the necessary adjustment the result will turn out ugly as we are witnessing now. To check incessant building collapse the government, professionals and the public should synergise by sharing information and ensuring proper regulation and implementation of available laws”.

National Vice Chairman, NICE, Mr. Tokunbo Ajanaku said collapse can occur due to several reasons that include the age of the building if not maintained as every building is constructed to last 50 years. He encouraged stakeholder’s collaboration to see that there is no repeat of the ugly incident.

He also asked the State Government to strengthen the existing agencies and ensure strict adherence to building code and construction standards.

He encouraged the public to consciously be part of the vanguard to sanitise the sector by complaining to the relevant agencies and professional body when they believe something is wrong with a particular construction.

He said: “If you see a construction going on with defects report to us and we will report to government so that necessary sanctions are given out when there is default. The regulatory bodies need to ensure that what they approved is what is constructed. For instance a building approved as residential should not be converted without changing the dynamics. Once you introduce none designed load to a building such as a dead load like generator or any of such that was not envisaged in the original drawing you are looking for trouble. There should be proper appraisal and retrofitting if you convert use of building”.

Thanks For Your Time

stay updated by Opritek