Following the scramble by professionals in the built environment to participate in the Certified Accreditor Programme (CAP) recently introduced by the Lagos State government, the Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG) has cautioned against mass registration of applicants.
The programme was introduced to curb the incessant collapse of buildings in Lagos State. The programme is to incorporate building professionals from the private sector into the building plan approval process, monitoring and certification of building construction projects, as well as verification of structural integrity of buildings.
The scheme entails payment of yearly registration fee that ranges from N200, 000 to N500, 000 by each participant and yearly professional indemnity insurance of N2,500,000. The remuneration for CAP participants is to be sourced by the government from developers and homeowners.
The guild noted that while it may be interesting that the state’s Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development (MPP&UD) is adopting the BCPG model of private sector participation in its processes, CAP may not be the panacea for building collapse or failures in the state.
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Speaking on the matter, Chairman, BCPG Lagos chapter, Mr. Joseph Akande, cautioned that if the programme is not well managed, the excitement over CAP could amount to an invitation ‘to come and eat’ situation.
He said: “Those professionals whose professions are not listed in the programme seem to nurse reservations of being sidelined from potential incentives, benefits and palliatives, as favouritism and marginalisation are being alleged among those whose professions appear in the lower cadre/category.
“There is also an undercurrent that those who conceived the idea of CAP skewed the programme to favour their profession. This notion is capable of causing disunity among professionals in the built environment. It all portends a struggle for survival without paying due attention to the risk aspect of CAP.
“Experience has revealed that poverty mentality and greed make certain individuals elevate pecuniary gains above risks. How do we explain a situation where a so-called professional endorses or signs the stage certification or conformity forms for a building that he/she did not supervise? Ironically, these people scrambling for the certified accreditor job are those that avoided BCPG voluntary service.”
Akande spoke during a recent BCPG meeting in Lagos State, where members expressed concern over the intention to turn the building collapse crisis into a money-making venture by registering companies.
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He suggested that those who will take part in the scheme should declare their assets before the commencement of the operation. “Participants should be made to undergo moral and ethical training. They should be administered with special oaths of transparent and uncompromising service.
“Participants should meet stringent conditions, while severe disciplinary actions should be administered on erring members. The yearly N2,500,000 indemnity insurance fees might be insignificant when CAP participants’ intervention or incompetence later results in severe building defects,’’ he said.
He further cautioned that revenue generation should not be allowed to supersede building control tenets, while building control officials should focus more on quality control rather than searching for building regulation offenders that could pay huge fines to meet their weekly revenue target, a drive that encourages negotiation and reduction of fines, which end up in personal pockets.
“The idea of turning peer review of building drawings and site monitoring into business ventures for consortia can be counter-productive, as it will become a burden on developers and homeowners,” he said.
SOURCE: Guardianng
