Intervene During Construction To Avoid Building Collapse- Fashola Urges Builders
The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola SAN, Monday charged members of the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) to endeavour to intervene at the time of construction of any building in any part of the country as a proactive step to stem the incidence of building collapse and consequent loss of life and property.
Fashola, who gave the charge when he hosted members of the Institute who paid a courtesy visit and conferred the honorary fellowship of the Institute on him, expressed deep condolence to the Governor, Government and people of Lagos State over the explosion that caused loss of life and property and left many injured in the Abule Ado part of the State.
Speaking at the Conference Room of the Ministry, Fashola, who began his remarks by acknowledging the sad incident which occurred on Sunday, expressed deep sorrow at the unfortunate incident describing it as a tragedy which, according to him, had caused a painful separation of the dead victims from their loved ones.
Noting also that the incident was avoidable, the Minister declared, “I join many Nigerians and non-Nigerians in expressing my very deep condolences to those who lost loved ones and also those who suffered varying degrees of injuries and also lost properties; our very deep and sincere sympathy go to the Governor and the Government and people of Lagos State”.
“Our thoughts, our prayers and sympathy and best wishes are with you as you go through these difficult time, especially in helping bereaved residents to deal with the very tragic pain of separation in an untimely, very painful and perhaps avoidable manner and I pray that the souls of the dear departed rest in peace”, he said.
Fashola, who charged the Institute to take interest during the construction of buildings to ensure that the right things were done, said at that point the opportunity to give advice and effect correction was still available adding that such intervention would be more timely and valuable than after a building had collapsed.
Obviously responding to the opening remarks of the President of the Institute who stressed the need to enforce the law to serve as deterrence, the Minister said as important as it is to enforce the law in the Built Industry as a means of minimizing incidences of building collapse, questions should be better asked during the construction of the buildings to ensure that the right things were being done.
He declared, “Mr. President, I couldn’t agree with you more that we need to enforce the law. But, I think there is a lot of work for all of us to do; because we must ask questions and I believe that as an Institute and as Professionals we, more than anybody, have the rights to ask those questions. And it is not when buildings have collapsed that we can ask those questions; it is while those buildings are being constructed”.
“You can go in there and see who is there; and that must not and should not offend anybody; just to see that the right thing is being done. In the interest of the preservation of life, that should not offend anybody. That will be my real charge to the Institute: How we can ensure that every building under construction is our business because every death that happens when a building collapses is also our business.
Reiterating that the most auspicious time to intervene was during the construction of a building, the Minister declared, “If we see something that is wrong during construction that is the time to intervene, to advise and to correct”, adding that his Ministry would continue to interact and interface with the institute in the effort to serve Nigerians better.
The Minister also used the opportunity to correct the misrepresentation in a section of the Media of a statement he made recently while hosting the Senate Committee on Housing reiterating that he only said the Ministry was understudying to see how to apply to the Public Sector the model by some organizations that are redesigning their large buildings to smaller units to make them affordable for rental.
