173 killed in 27 building collapses, but no one is punished – Investigation

The incidents of building collapse in Nigeria cannot be analysed without reference to the tragic incident at the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) which occurred on September 12, 2014. On that fateful day at about 11 am Nigerians were greeted with the sad news of the collapse of a Guest House at the Church […]

The incidents of building collapse in Nigeria cannot be analysed without reference to the tragic incident at the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) which occurred on September 12, 2014. On that fateful day at about 11 am Nigerians were greeted with the sad news of the collapse of a Guest House at the Church located at Ikotun in Lagos State. By the last count the death toll from that incident stood at 115 while 131 others sustained various degrees of injuries.
The collapse of the Synagogue Church building was just one out of the over 20 incidents of building collapse recorded in different parts of the country between January 2013 to September 2014, they include 17 incidents at residential buildings, six in Churches while the rest were recorded at plazas and uncompleted buildings.
A survey of building collapse within the period in review derived from newspaper reports as conducted by Sunday Trust showed that a total of 27 incidents were recorded. Out of these, 175 deaths occurred while 427 others were injured.
A further analysis showed that 17 of the incidents of collapsed buildings involved residential areas where an estimated death toll of 44 was recorded with over 60 victims injured while 6 occurred on Church buildings where an estimated death toll of 134 was recorded with about 176 survivors injured. The remaining building involved plazas and other uncompleted buildings.
The South-West zone of the country had the highest record of building collapse within the period in review. The States in the zone where incidents were reported are: Lagos and Oyo, with the former having the highest incidents with about 134 deaths and 159 injured while Oyo recorded a single incident on March 19, 2013 at Aremo, Ibadan where 3 people were injured but no deaths recorded.
The South-East zone recorded 6 incidents with 5 cases in Anambra State and 1 in Abia. The incidents in Anambra State which occurred at Omoegbe Estate, Onitsha, Old Cemetery Road, Onitsha, Agbani Ifite and Alloy-Offia Crescent, Onitsha as well as Eziora Village in Anaocha LGA recorded an estimated death toll of 21 with about  twice that number of people injured while the only incident in Abia State occurred on May 15, 2013 at Agbama, Umuahia with seven people killed.
The South-South recorded four cases of building collapse within the period in review in Rivers, Yenegoa (Delta) with two cases in Edo State. The death toll recorded from the incidents in the zone was 1 with 25 injured.
In the North, a total of five cases of building collapse were recorded within the period with the North-West having three cases in Sokoto, Kaduna and Katsina where an estimated death toll of eight was recorded and 6 others injured. The North-East and North-Central recorded only one incident each in Taraba and Kogi States with three deaths recorded in Taraba while 200 others were injured in the Taraba incident which occurred at Donga town. Three incidents occurred  in Kogi where no death was recorded.

Experts speak
A cross section of experts who spoke with Sunday Trust identified the root causes of building collapse in Nigeria as well as the provision of the law in dealing with the situation.
Mr. Barnabas Atiyaye, the FCT chapter chairman of Building Collapse Prevention Guild, listed the causes and identified ways of preventing building collapse.
According to him two or three issues were to be considered always to prevent building collapse: One, the foundation that has to be really monitored because the height of the building determines the nature of the foundation based on the type of soil.  “You can go and have a building inside the ocean, it may not collapse because the foundation inside the ocean is different from the foundation you may have in a swampy area which  may be different from the one you may have in  a rocky area and of  Sahara or desert area”, Atiyaye said.
Although he said there was no particular law made for building collapse in Nigeria as at today, Atiyaye said there had been guiding principles that help professionals because each of the professional in the building environment tends to have their own ethics and expectations in practice.
“The Architect draws in such a manner as to give the aesthetic beauty and acceptability of the structure itself. But of course you know we have the engineers that look at the structure to make sure that it is really going to stand and it starts from the foundation. They now look at the soil type, after the soil test that will determine the nature of the foundation.  That of course is handled by the architect but the structure engineer again comes to look at it to see that all this kind of beauty that the architect has come up with can stand. If there are areas that have challenges the engineer alerts the architect to make some corrections.  Of course we also have the builders themselves that come in terms of directing the structure after the architect; the engineers whether it is structural, mechanical or electrical have done their part. The builder comes in to erect the building itself.”
Speaking in the same vein, Engineer Kamila Wopa, Register Council for the Regulation of Engineers in Nigeria (COREN)  lamented that there was no definite law on building collapse in the country, saying; “it is just like asking for a law applicable to a driver involved in an accident and died in the process.”
Speaking on their panel findings on the Synagogue building collapse, Wopa said: “TB Joshua had no building approval from Lagos State Government. We measured the foundation and discovered that it was not adequate and strong enough to carry the building.
When we asked him for the engineers he engaged in the building construction, he said there is no engineer involved. We even advertised in the media that if anyone knows any engineer that is involved they should let us know”, he said, adding:  “We also discovered that the additional four buildings added on the previous one is what weakened the foundation and led to the building collapse. Up till now nobody has come up to say he was involved; he used his church members in the construction.”
On why people are not punished as a result of building collapse, Wopa said the owners of collapsed building are powerful people, adding that the Police are supposed to prosecute such people. “A Regulatory body like COREN can only deal with engineers involved. What we do is to investigate and fish out any engineers involved. We try them in our special tribunal and if they are found guilty their certificates are seized by COREN and then we hand them over to the police for prosecution. The same thing is applicable to other professional bodies like ARCON, CORBON etc. So police are the prosecutor of people involved in building collapses”, he said
He advised prospective builders to always engage registered professionals in their building construction so that they can get a perfect job done adding that in the case that they (professionals) failed to do so, they can be held liable by regulatory bodies.
He said there were so many factors that can lead to building collapse.  “When professionals are being corrupt or when they allow quacks to operate, it can lead to another building collapse. The developers themselves, when they want to cut corner, they tend to have a different ratio of whatever mix so that they can save some cost. So the developers themselves have a problem.”
Wopa said the issue of the materials’ used too, is of concern in building collapse.  “We just had this Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) conference where they brought up the issue of cement and it was quite enlightening because a lot of people are ignorant of  the types of cement that we have. The cement of plastering is different from the cement of making block and from the cement of making bridges. Sometimes we use the one for plastering to make blocks and that is a problem. So using the right cement at different segment is very important. Also the age of the structure matters. There are some structures that have stayed for 30-40 years or even 100 years. They were built when Nigeria became independent and our maintenance culture is very bad. You can see a story building having a crack and we neglect or take it for granted”, he explained.
“When you are talking about punishing people, you ask which aspect? Is it when the building is being constructed and it collapses that you want to get the people?  Is it a building that have been occupied for 100 years that has collapsed? Who do you want to punish? For instance, what happened in the case of synagogue building collapse in Lagos, who is responsible?”
If you have a two-storey building and you have been given approval for six, was the foundation, in the first place made for that six?  Who gave that approval?  Is it contrived to get the approval? Have they undertaken integrity test of the structure? These are issues and, if therefore, after investigations any professional is at fault then the regulatory body of that profession must bring that person to book. If it is the developer that is responsible, his C of O should be withdrawn because he is not qualified to build. If it is a government staff then his credentials must be investigated and if he is found to have got incentives then he must be punished for it.  And if it is the material manufacturers that supplied materials that are defective they should be reported to the Standards Organizations of Nigeria (SON) so that they can deal with that situation.”
Commenting on who is to prosecute those involved in any building that collapsed, Wopa said: “There are two things involved; if lives are involved it now goes beyond the professionals; it will now be a legal issue. The police will now pick it up and then follow the due process.  But then, professionally, all our professional bodies have regulatory bodies and they are supposed to find out who is involved and to what extent, and if that person is found guilty, his license will be withdrawn  and if lives are involved they can hand him over to the police for prosecution. Ours is to say from now onward you cannot practice and we cannot go beyond that.”
On his part, Mr Kamal Olayiwola, a Quantity Surveyor said: “If there is professional negligence where a professional failed to carry out an obligation, the blame is supposed to be borne by the government regulatory bodies, like QSRBN, COREN, CORBON, etc. But, unfortunately, most collapsed buildings are done by non-professionals, which the law cannot regulate, but they could be referred to ICPC for impersonation, corrupt practice.  While we have building codes as professional standard reference book for construction, the law to enforce its compliance is still pending at the National Assembly. Each building is like drug or food items which has expiry dates of 50 years and 60yrs.”