Bennett Oghifo
Stakeholders in Nigeria’s built environment have called for stronger collaboration among government agencies, professionals, developers, communities and residents to curb building collapse and make Lagos a more resilient city.
The call was made at a conference organised by the Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG), Amuwo Odofin Local Government Cell, where participants stressed that preventing structural failures requires collective responsibility rather than isolated interventions.
Chairman of the conference, an architect and safety practitioner, Dr Austin Otuoke, said the theme, “Building Lagos by Synergy,” was designed to highlight the need for all stakeholders to work together to address the persistent challenges confronting the state’s built environment.
Otuoke said the government, regulatory agencies, architects, engineers, quantity surveyors, land surveyors, builders, developers and communities all had clearly defined responsibilities in ensuring that buildings were properly designed, constructed and maintained.
He identified the shortage of skilled artisans as one of the challenges threatening construction quality, warning that the industry no longer had enough artisans with the requisite skills to deliver projects to acceptable standards.
According to him, the rapid pace of urbanisation and development in Lagos makes collaboration more urgent, adding that whistleblowers, community leaders and residents must also be integrated into efforts to safeguard the built environment.
He said the objective was to reduce the risks associated with building failure and ultimately make building collapse a thing of the past in Lagos.
The Coordinator of the BCPG Local Government Cell and host of the conference, Builder Chubike Okafor, said the programme had been two years in the making and was conceived to develop practical strategies for making Lagos a resilient state.
Okafor said the initiative was partly prompted by the building collapse at Alakija, which resulted in deaths and property losses, lamenting what he described as the lack of cohesion among responders during the incident.
He said occupants had reportedly complained about the distressed building for weeks and months but did not know where to channel their concerns.
He therefore proposed a stakeholders’ platform involving residents’ associations, political leaders, state agencies and built-environment professionals, through which residents could report structural defects and receive rapid intervention.
“We don’t have to wait until a building collapses,” he said, stressing the need for an effective early-warning and response mechanism.
Okafor also drew attention to flooding in Satellite Town, particularly communities around the coastal area of the Ejegun River, where residents routinely rely on pumping machines to remove floodwater from their properties.
He said such a situation should not become normal, urging stakeholders to develop sustainable solutions to the state’s flooding and infrastructure challenges.
He added that the initiative would become an annual programme aimed at taking the message of resilience and collective responsibility to communities across Lagos and beyond.
Okafor also urged residents to exercise greater responsibility when renting or buying properties, saying occupants should not patronise buildings that show signs of distress or substandard construction.
Meanwhile, a geotechnical engineer, Dr Sebastian Ozama, warned professionals against encroaching on areas outside their expertise, saying the integrity of a building begins before the first block is laid.
Ozama said every professional involved in construction must respect the expertise of others, arguing that the practice of one individual attempting to perform several specialised roles could compromise building safety.
“If you are a civil engineer, do the job of a civil engineer. If you are a geotechnical engineer, act as one. If you are a builder, be a builder. If you are an architect, be an architect,” he said.
He stressed that effective collaboration among professionals was essential to preventing structural failures, adding that no individual could single-handedly guarantee the integrity of the building system.
The stakeholders therefore called for stronger enforcement, improved professional collaboration, skilled manpower development, community reporting mechanisms and sustained engagement among government and non-government actors to confront building collapse and flooding in Lagos.