Nigeria: building collapse – engineers want National Assembly to pass bill to check contractors

Structural engineers have appealed to the National Assembly (NASS) to propose and pass a bill which would check careless use of building contractors in project execution in the country.

Addressing journalists in Calabar, branch chairman of Nigerian Association of Technologists in Engineering (NATE), an affiliate of the Council of Registered Engineers in Nigeria (COREN) Bishop Ndoma Nyambi said that the major cause of building collapse was the unrestrained engagement of reckless and inexperienced building contractors.

He said the bill when passed into law would reduce the rampant presence of defective buildings and the grave consequences.

Ndoma emphasised that there was need to prevent clients such as building owners whether government or private from using contractors with inexperienced engineers.He expressed worry that private buildings under construction are hardly supervised by building engineers which is the major reason there are loopholes for defection and other dangers.

“It is not only buildings. A lot of people are constructing drains and culverts on roads without supervision from relevant engineers.”There is need for provisions to penalise anyone because it appears anyone can just wake up and build anything using any standard without enforcement from government,” he said.

He said it had always been the duty of government to provide access slabs and the drains on roads supervised by government engineers