LASG, experts, advocate synergy against building collapse

The Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development (MPP&UD), Dr Idris Salako, said this at a “Building Collapse Sensitisation Workshop” in Lagos.

The workshop was organised by the Ikeja Branch of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) as part of activities to mark its 2022 Engineering Week in collaboration with the MPP&UD.

Salako represented by the Director, Technical Services Department, Mr Bola Aliu, said his ministry was glad to collaborate with NSE on the sensitisation workshop.

He said the theme was apt at this moment when conversation centred around efforts to promote standards and ethical practices, needed to eliminate building collapse in Lagos State.

“The effort to combat building collapse is a collective one that involves the government, professionals and other stakeholders in the built environment.

“Building collapse is multi-dimensional in terms of causes and impacts, which can be social, economic and cultural. Building collapse, amongst its impacts, has taken its toll on individual and public resources.

“It has wiped out an entire family and destroyed infrastructure.

“To stem the tide of building collapse the Lagos State Government has introduced a lot of measures including the creation of an agency for development control (LASBCA) in deployment of drone technology for monitoring of the physical environment,” he said.

The commissioner said that the government recently employed about 100 young graduates in different professional fields including Engineers, Architects and Town Planners, for “regular identification and removal of distressed buildings”.

The Lead Speaker, a past Chairman of NSE, Ikeja Branch, Mr Kunle Adebajo, said synergy between government, professionals and industry players was important in resolving issues of building collapse.

Adebajo, a past President of the Nigerian Institution of Structural Engineers, said collaboration would guide against errors and quackry to tame the menace, hence the workshop with relevant experts and artisans in attendance.

“In the past, we have not been collaborating enough. The private sector is doing its own thing, the government and ministries are doing theirs; the developers and so on are all over the place,” he said.

He said that engineers needed all built environment experts and other stakeholders, saying that, “collaboration any day will yield better results than each individual trying to do their own thing”.

The Principal, Lagos State Technical College, Ogba, Dr Rafiu  Ajifowoke and other discussants took turns to proffer solutions to issues of building collapse and need for collaboration.

The week-long Engineering Week has the theme: “Taking Responsibility for Nigeria’s Transformation: The Imperatives for Engineers”.