The Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON) has inaugurated its national Project Evaluation and Monitoring Unit (PEMU) in Lagos.
The unit, which will domicile in all the 36 states under the supervision of CORBON, is made up of registered builders, who will be supported by relevant security agencies during the conduct of their lawful duties.
The launch of the unit featured presentations of projects monitoring kits to officials across the six geo-political zones and commissioning of two vehicles for PEMU operations.
According to a report by The Guardian, the functions of the unit will include visits to project sites and monitoring compliance with the established regulations on building construction and management in accordance with the National Building Code (NBC), as well as laws governing the practice of the professions and relevant planning and development laws of the state governments.
Speaking at the launching of the initiative, CORBON Chairman, Samson Opaluwah, emphasised that officials must adhere strictly with the directive and operational guidelines of CORBON, adding that the unit shall also monitor training and apprenticeship exposure of learners in the various CORBON skills development programmes.
Opaluwah said PEMU would ensure professionalism on the nation’s building sites and called for the cooperation of all, as well as sundry to lift the nation to the next level in building projects management and delivery.
According to him, the unit would submit reports of findings to the relevant regulatory enforcement agencies of the states and CORBON for necessary action.
“The capacity of the government to manage construction and development projects efficiently comes under close scrutiny by local and international observers. As builders and experts in building and construction management, it behooves on us to take urgent and decisive steps to save our nation from the recurrent loss of lives, investment and negative publicity due to the incessant incidence of building collapse”, he said.
To professionalise building construction and management, he said, CORBON had rolled out building construction management tools known as the registered builders’ construction documents, which consist of construction programme, construction methodology and plant / equipment scheduling, project health and safety plan, as well as quality management plan.
“These tools of project delivery are mandatorily required for the successful delivery of buildings by all registered builders practicing in Nigeria. We call on all states to ensure that buildings are approved for construction only when these mandatory documents are presented,” Opaluwah said.
On efforts to boost the built sector, he said CORBON has accredited building and building technology courses in 27 universities and polytechnics, established sector skills council on construction to meet the skills and technology requirements of the construction industry, training and certification of master craftsmen and artisans in the construction trades.
Representative of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Hengeior Emmanuel, said with the launch of PEMU, buildings to be constructed will be in line with existing regulations, while incidents of collapse buildings will be a thing of the past.
The Special Adviser to the Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Works and Infrastructure, Aramide Adeyoye, represented by Adeoye Thomas, said the government is ready to support efforts at reducing building collapse to its barest minimum.
She further charged CORBON to develop strong collaboration with Lagos State government especially its building regulatory bodies to achieve results.
