By Ishola Balogun

MR. Bode Adediji is the immediate past President, Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers. NIESV. In this interview, the alumnus of University of Ife, (now Obafemi Awolowo University) proffered  solutions to the incessant collapse of buildings in the country. Excerpts:

THE statistics of building collapse is very disturbing. Why is it so, particularly in Lagos state?

The trend is not limited to Lagos, it happened in some other states even though the preponderance of it happened in Lagos. It is now a world wide phenomenon as we recall its occurrence in the Philippines, Bangladesh and recently in America where several people were killed. In an attempt to look at why it happened in Lagos, we have to look at the geology of Lagos, the expertise and technology available to avert such incidents. You should also note that majority of these buildings were built 30-40 years ago. There is so much pressure on these buildings as Lagos continues to expand in terms of population. So, virtually all the factors responsible for these incidents are man-made. They are not caused by wizardry or act of God, rather by human factors.

But what then can be done to stop this phenomenon?
I say this all the time that one thing that separates collapse building from other forms of calamities is that you see your own people trapped in the debris and in most cases they are helpless. That is why every body, including the government must pay special attention to the issue of collapsed buildings. Immediately a building crashes, you can rationalise it that you cannot stop at that moment, but when a building exhibits signs of weaknesses and vulnerability and we still close our eyes for whatever reasons pretending we do not see it, then we are guilty – whether we are by-standers, journalists, clerics or government officials.

This is because if you find a 4-storey building with about 200 people trapped and the rescue team does not get there until several hours later; and even when they eventually get there, they become helpless as a result of under-capacity and lack of technological equipments. I give all these insights because no measure emanating from government can be considered too chronic and expensive to forestall the rising occurrence of collapsed buildings.

Sensitisation on buildings
We believe that when you see a problem, you can legislate it away, but as far as this matter is concerned, it is not only a matter of legislation, it deserves a comprehensive approach. It will be better if the government in collaboration with other public spirited individuals can  establish a special radio station dedicated to information and sensitization on buildings.

Again, there should be budgetary allocation by the state for prevention and intervention,  assuming there is a collapsed building any where in the country. Although we have Federal Emergency and rescue mission team but we should be able to identify and isolate the tragedy of collapse building from other calamities because it demands  more

For instance, even when a layman sees a weak building, where there is moral courage to force the occupants out, there is no financial willpower to provide alternative place for them. Unfortunately, we have not been able to do enough on housing policy to provide alternative for displaced persons from areas of vulnerability. Mere empathy and sermon cannot change this situation.

How will a prospective, desperate tenant know a building that exhibits weaknesses and vulnerability?

You see, the remedial strategy often deployed by our government is not adequate professionally. The involvement of professionals who are actually in direct contact with tenants on daily basis is minimal. For example, when addressing the issue of collapsed buildings, there is no Estate surveyors and Valuer in any committee set up by government to address the issue either from policy framework or from intervention point when it happened; yet these are the professional swho are in regular contact with the neighbourhood. Civil servant behaves from the perspective of I-know-it-all. When you have a gigantic problem such as collapsed building, it is the interface between the professionals and the people that can produce a good result. You have to bring them on board to be able to tap from their resource for the benefit of the people.

As a professional, what do you think is the solution?
Let us carry the incidence of collapse building beyound this present scenario and take a holistic approach involving the professionals. Let us also understand that there are conditions and necessities that are responsible for this problem even when they are avoidable. Until government tackles with all its might, the huge gap in the housing system which have led to 1.6million housing deficit, until that is done, people will still go to vulnerable environment out of sheer necessities and ignorance.

So, it is incumbent on both the state and federal government to remove housing policy from the back burner of government planning and programmes to the front burner. That is what we have lacked from past regimes in the last three decades. Again, there is social strata balancing which government must address. There is so many houses in Lekki now without occupiers as a result of the downturn of the economy which has forced the mass movement of people from this area to where vulnerability is high. Credit must be given to Obasanjo who saw this problem and moved to tackle it.