‘Jail handlers of collapsed buildings’
- Africcon News
Africcon Report: ‘Jail handlers of collapsed buildings’
Africcon New Media – News
From: Africcon Media – Nigeria
Government’s failure to implement reports and the sanctions recommended on collapsed buildings has been blamed for the growing rate of building collapses in the country.
A member of the Investigative Committee on Collapsed Buildings, Nigeria Society of Engineers, Mr. Benjamin Olamijulo, said this to Saturday PUNCH in an interview.
He called on the states and Federal Government to begin to punish culprits to serve as a deterrent to members of the public.
There has been an increase in the rate of building collapses across the nation, usually with many lives lost. The most recent occurred last week at Ojodu Berger area of Lagos.
Olamijulo said many of the people involved in such cases were greedy quacks, who had no professional knowledge of building and construction.
He berated the situation where investigations were carried out by the NSE and reports presented to the relevant government organs, and such reports were swept under the carpet because of sentiments.
He said, “Until the government begins to prosecute and jail supervisors of collapsed buildings, the unfortunate trend will continue.
“We need to look away from sentiments of who the culprits are and sanction them because of the value of every soul lost to such incidents. The reports should be published and implemented.”
Olamijulo, a fellow of the NSE, said if the government truly valued lives lost to the collapses, it should not be deterred from applying sanctions no matter who the perpetrators are.
“But what you hear is that the person has pleaded for mercy and should be pardoned or that he is related to some influential members of the society.
“We can’t force the government to implement what has been recommended. They may also have their own way of implementing the reports. Recently, at a building in Jakande Estate, a WC seat crashed and tore the buttocks of a woman and she bled to death.
“The crashed NIDB house report also showed some level of negligence, but people never want these reports to be published,” he said.
Similarly, the Minister of Land, Housing and Urban Development, Ms. Ama Pepple, has called for sanctions against supervisors of collapsed houses henceforth.
She said there would not be a significant change without sanctioning building supervisors, who she believes are professionals.
Pepple spoke on a live television breakfast show monitored by our correspondent. She, however, believes that professional bodies should sanction the defaulting supervisors who are their members.
