By Austin Ogwuda
ASABA—PRESIDENT of the Nigerian Institute of Builders, Mr.Dachallam Jambol, in Asaba, Detla State, yesterday blamed  government for the frequent collapse of buildings across the country, adding that the lack of political will to enforce the Building Code was doing more harm than good to the building industry.

He told newsmen at the end of the National Executive Council meeting of the body, in Asaba, that Nigerians should stop pointing accusing fingers elsewhere but to lay the blame squarely on government.

According to him, “I  make bold to say that the continuous collapse of buildings is the fault of government. There are three reasons. The government is in the know of the Building Code and the Code was actually approved by the Federal Executive Council, FEC, in 2007, when Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was the President.

“They constituted what the Code provided in Section 3, called, the Building Code Enforcement Advisory Committee. The Committee comprised all the professionals in the building environment and seven of us in the Committee were mandated to go to every project and ensure that the various professionals involved are playing their roles.

“But the politics of power did not allow the Committee to be in place and so the Committee has failed to take off. If it had taken off, there was no way an architect would manage a  production process that  is not his area of specialization.

There was no way a builder would design a house, he would be a quack, if he did that.
“Secondly, as at today, there is a Bill before the National Assembly for an Act to enforce the Code. It has been with the lawmakers for close to four years. You know, when there is a Code,  you can take somebody to court if he fails to comply with it,  but you can’t take him if there is no law backing it. The National Assembly has failed to pass the Bill.

“We have been at it. We had  two sessions with the lawmakers. We told them what it is. We told them what we want to achieve, but you know that we are in Nigeria. Maybe it is not in their interest,  we do not know. If that Act had been put in place, things would have been better,” he added.