…say collapse avoidable mishap

…want inclusion on investigative panel

By Gabriel Ewepu

FOLLOWING collapse of 21-storey building in Ikoyi area of Lagos State on Monday, the Council of Nigerian Mining Engineers and Geoscientists, COMEG, and Nigerian Mining and Geosciences society, NMGS, yesterday, expressed sadness over the incidence.

This was contained in a statement signed by the Registrar of COMEG, Prof Zacheus Opafunso, and President of NMGS, Surveyor Alabo Charlesye Charles, which they described the collapse as an “avoidable mishap.”

They expressed their condolence to the families of all those who lost their lives, and also commended swift response of Lagos State Government for commencing prompt rescue operation and investigation into the remote cause of the avoidable disaster.

According to the statement, no building is worth the loss of a single life, because Lagos State being one of the mega cities in the world is expected to be replete with superstructures and having reports of “structural collapse of a meagre 21-storey structure sends a wrong signal to investors.”

The statement declared that, “NMGS and COMEG as professional body and regulatory agency respectively, who are the first point of call for any construction project as the geotechnical properties of soils ultimately determine the type of foundation and structures that can be safely placed on any soil.

“As stakeholders in the construction industry, COMEG and NMGS are saddened by the recurrent incidents of building collapse in Nigeria.”

However, the two professional bodies called for inclusion on independent panel set up by Lagos State government, because COMEG and NMGS professionals are regulatory bodies and stakeholders in the construction subsector.

“This in view of the following amongst other reasons: The success of any construction project is dependent on the underlying foundation soil; Soils have a myriad of dynamics which could be at play and affect substructures even when foundation type might be right such as seismicity, liquefaction etc. and these dynamics are best studied/investigated by geologists; and in the advent of disasters such as these, studies of the subsurface in relation to the phenomenon is of importance and these falls strictly in the purview of geologists.

“We hereby use this medium to appeal and call the attention of all concerned to the regulation of the COMEG and relevance of NMGS to civil constructions.

“It is hoped that the findings and lessons learnt from this exercise would assist government to formulate a better response to building development and ensure that civil projects serve their full design life in continuous safety”, it added.

COMEG is the regulatory body for all professionals and firms in the geosciences, Mining Engineering and Metallurgy in the country and was established through the ACT No.40 of 1990 while NMGS is the professional body of all Geologists and Mining Engineers in the country.