THE Building Industry in Nigeria has seven professional bodies and respective membership institutes, but the question is: are these professional bodies empowered to seal projects due to contraventions?
Other questions are: do we have an enforcement authority like NAFDAC in the construction industry? Do government’s representative in monitoring construction activities lack the locus standi to seal sites due to contravention such as DPR does in the petroleum industry?
In Nigeria, the seven professional bodies are statutorily meant for monitoring of construction professionals’ annual practice licences in their respective specialties. They are: ARCON for Architects, CORBON for Builders, COREN for Engineers (structural/geotechnical, mechanical and electrical engineers-as it relates to building); Surveyors Council of Nigeria SURCON; Quantity Surveyors Registration Board of Nigeria, QSRBN.
They are empowered to list and delist all duly registered professionals annually whom the law guarantees them right to practice. These professional bodies lack the power to mark a project or stop the work but can query the use of quacks in any such projects.
The function of sealing a site for contravention for now is handled by government agencies such as the development control of FCDA, Abuja. All states are supposed to have functional agencies like development control to checkmate stage by stage activities in the built industry including issuance of stage by stage approval (setting out up to the last floor as designed).
It’s important to note that before such approvals are given there are various tests and confirmations of the annual practice licence validity of the professionals handling the job especially such a magnificent project like the 21storey Ikoyi building that collapsed on November 1, 2021.
Therefore, there is failure on the part of government because the menace of building collapse has been occurring incessantly in Nigeria. Yet the bill for the establishment of the enforcement authority that would undertake functions similar to those of NAFDAC in the enforcement of laws governing construction works in all states of the federation is still dumped in the National Assembly after passing second reading.
We understand that it is allegedly being sabotaged mainly by professional bodies which feel such sanity will limit their relevance and change the status quo. They prefer the all-comers approach, the “who you know ” approach that has left us with regrettable effects. With the signing of the National Building Code (NBC 2006) and passing it into law; all construction works will be well monitored and there will be no room for shortcuts.
The good part of it is that compromises cannot be hidden in construction no matter how long. The result must always become apparent hence when the enforcement law comes into effect, there will be caution by all the officers because they too wouldn’t be spared when something goes wrong.
Most Nigerians are not aware that at the design stage, five professionals are required (architects, structural engineers, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers and quantity surveyors). They produce what we call the working drawings and recently more detailed “programme of work,’ ‘health and safety manuals,’ or ‘project quality management plan.’ These are addendums to contract documents especially for magnificent projects.
At the construction stage which is the post-design stage, a registered builder is required for the physical execution of the project. This, however, does not mean that professionals in the design stage will not come to site (they are consultants hence they are part of the project until completion). The registered builder may have in his team other professionals either as staff or partners all for ensuring detailed production of every component of the building.
By law he (registered builder) is the key professional for physical construction or production of the project (that’s the persons we call contractors today which you will agree with me that nowadays most of them didn’t study building technology/engineering, and often do not engage services of a registered builder).
Services of land surveyors, geotechnical engineers are also required even before design is done…so when you add up the key professionals they are seven in all. All these due processes are taken with laxity in Nigeria, instead, what you get is the “one man does all” or coordinates all whether rightly or wrongly and no one questions such as envelopes are sent to the officers in the building approval offices in most cases.
Until Nigeria enacts the law on the National Building Code (NBC 2006) and sets up the enforcement authority just like NAFDAC and the officers do their work diligently, the menace of building collapse will remain unsolved. A special squad of our security agencies needed to be attached to the regulatory authorities to enable them function without fear of molestation or intimidation.
Vanguard News Nigeria
