Building Collapse: institute calls for domestication of Building Code in States.
Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo
The Taraba State Chapter of Nigerian Institute of Building (NIB) has called for the domestication and full implementation of the National Building Code (NBC) in all the states of the Federation as a means of checking incessant collapse of buildings in the country.
The state Chairman of the Institute Dr Ayuba Ibrahim made the call in Jalingo during a Two day technical workshop for professionals and prospectives in the building industry.
Dr Ayuba said that the failure of some states including Taraba State to domestic the Code has made the building industry porous and completely unregulated, creating room for practices that make most buildings susceptible to collapse.
“Any sector that is not closely regulated is prone to serious disasters and we must tell ourselves the truth. The building industry is on of such unregulated industries in most parts of the country, including Taraba.
“We have a situation where anybody can claim to be a builder without requisite knowledge of requirements for construction. Since they are not professionals, they are only after the money and don’t care what happens afterwards.
” Incidents of buildings collapsing are almost a daily occurrence, most times with fatal consequences. The built environment encompasses all courses related to building technology such as quantity survey, architecture, town planning, land and survey, estate management and others.
“It takes proper coordination of all these sects to ensure that buildings meet the required standards that would make the last long and less vulnerable to the elements.
“Unfortunately, the building code that empowers the Institute to operate under the cover of law to ensure that the right thing is done in the built environment is not domesticated in most states. In fact, when people want to build houses, the go looking for civil engineers out of ignorance. So if we must get it right, we must do the right things first.
“Let me use this opportunity to call on the State Governor Agbu Kefas and members of the State House of Assembly to expedite actions on domestication and full implementation of the Building Code in Taraba State. The need for this can never be overemphasized. Let me also call on the general public to always consult a building engineer when they want to build for their own safety and safety of their investments” he said.
