‘NASS should pass building code enabling law’

The National Building Code is one of the priorities of today’s agenda What does it entails? The National Building Code is something that specifies minimum acceptable standard in the final product- which is the building or in the activities of professionals in the built environment. We have seven of them. The seven professional are:  the […]

The National Building Code is one of the priorities of today’s agenda What does it entails?
The National Building Code is something that specifies minimum acceptable standard in the final product- which is the building or in the activities of professionals in the built environment. We have seven of them. The seven professional are:  the Architect, Builder, Estate Surveyor, Quantity Surveyor, Land Surveyor, Town Planners and the Engineers.

How is the code going to enhance the built environment?
If the building code becomes operational, it implies that we are not going to have quacks which means all the people involved in the production of any building will be registered. They have a license at stake so that when they are found wanting they can be punished or have their licenses confiscated. Nobody will want his license, which is his source of income, to be taken away from him. But if there is no building code, one can go and meet a carpenter and asked him to help him build his house even though he is not competent enough to do this.

What is the present state of the Building Code at the National Assembly?  
What we are even doing here today is that we are trying to review it. It is supposed to be reviewed every three years. It is already at the National Assembly and we are looking forward for them to pass an enabling law that will make this building code operational. My institute, Nigerian Institute of Building, NIOB, is at the fore front of making sure this Building Code is passed. We want the members of the National Assembly to think of Nigerians so that they don’t lose their money. A lot of them lose their money when their building collapses. A lot of them also lose their sources of livelihood apart from the lives that are lost.

What do you really want to be amended in it?
The Building Code was crafted in 2006 and between now and 2006 there have been new developments that need to be taken into consideration. There are new materials, there are new processes.  We need to look at all these new innovations that have been adopted in other countries and apply so as   to take advantage of these new processes and ideas.

Give us a practical example of what you called new ideas in the system?
Let`s take for instance, we have one type of rod that is made from rock and it is about five times the strength of steel and lighter than it. I have seen it and we are looking at it

Don’t you think if the code eventually becomes operational, monitoring and regulation will be an issue?
If the Building Code is enacted; it is easy to enforce. Like we have it in the FCT, every state has to pass a law recognizing the Building Code. Once this law is passed, the regulating authorities in the states like the Development Control will be able to enforce it. For instance in Abuja, if you are trying to build a house by the time you submit your application, they will ask you to bring a registered professional who is supposed to do that and they will take a copy of his license and he will write a letter of undertaking assuring that he will be in charge of the construction and will be held responsible for any lapses in the course of building.  And in my personal opinion, any one responsible for collapse of building should not be given any option of fine; he should be jailed and if possible sentence to death.

With the level of discussions here today, what are your expectations of the entire road map review?
The review is a necessity because when the Building Code was enacted there were things that were not considered or left out which will now be considered. The Building Code is the work of all professionals in the built environment deliberated and agreed on. And with this review we expect a stiffer and a broader Building Code that will solve all our problems in the built environment.