The former president of the Nigerian Institution of Structural Engineers, Dr. Victor Oyenuga, delivered a compelling keynote at a landmark webinar organized by the Amuwo-Odofin Cell of the Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG) in Lagos. He concluded the event with a powerful plea for systemic change: “Building collapses can be prevented with societal reorientation, renewed professional integrity, and a commitment to doing things right.”
The online event tackled Nigeria’s troubling pattern of building failures most involving modest four-story designs that should pose no challenge to qualified engineers. Yet, negligence and greed have led to avoidable tragedies in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, and other urban centers.
Oyenuga emphasized the essentials of structural safety: proper design, quality material use, correct load calculations, mandatory soil testing, and uninterrupted quality control from planning through maintenance .He stressed that safety and economy must go hand in hand—and that cutting corners is no longer acceptable.
BCPG aimed to stem the tide of these incidents since 2011, leveraging a multidisciplinary coalition of architects, engineers, builders, surveyors, and planners. Chubike Okafor, coordinator of the Amuwo‑Odofin Cell, pinpointed recurring structural failures like punching shear, bearing collapse, and poor detailing as symptoms of substandard practice, inadequate supervision, and deficient planning.
He added that the consequences are profound: loss of life, economic setbacks, costly site clearances, legal gridlock, and eroded public trust. Okafor’s prescription: only qualified professionals should lead projects, artisans must be trained, materials strictly tested, soil investigations required, software used responsibly, and unauthorized building modifications disallowed.
In a related report, Vanguard reinforced that “negligence and greed” remain at the heart of these recurring disasters.
