How corruption fuels building collapse in Nigeria

 

ACCORDING to Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, human beings’ basic needs are three-fold — food, clothing and shelter. Most people, whether rich or poor, aspire to build or own their own houses or offices. In fact, wealth assessment in Nigeria is done not only in terms of cash at hand or in the bank but houses and other properties owned. Thus, if you own houses in cities and towns across the country, you’re deemed to be very successful and wealthy. Unfortunately, when houses or buildings come down like a pack of cards, killing and maiming its occupants, it becomes a source of concern.

For the umpteenth time, another building collapsed in Lagos on the night of May 1, 2022. It happened at Ibadan Street in the Ebute Metta area of the “State of Aquatic Splendour.” May we not sleep to death. News reports have it that the building, which has been marked for demolition having been discovered to be distressed, gave way around 10:30 pm when many of its occupants were already asleep. It’s another dream cut short for eight people, who were reported killed on Monday night. Imagine, just imagine, that some of them who are Muslims already had high hopes of celebrating Eid el Fitr on Monday but, rather than celebrate Sallah, they have become occupants of mortuary.

It is not the first time such tragedy has happened in Nigeria nay the world. Nor will it be the last. It will be a recurring decimal in as much as malpractice and sharp practices that take place in Nigeria’s building sector are not curbed. There are several causes of building collapse ranging from lack of construction plan, weak foundation, use of substandard and fake building materials, incompetent workmen, wrong building design, non-adherence to building codes, building on flood plains and many more. For me, bribery and corruption also play a critical role in incessant building collapse.

In all the states of Nigeria, including the Federal Capital Territory, there are building regulatory agencies and, indeed, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development. Before buildings of any sort are erected, the landowners are supposed to obtain Certificate of Occupancy and approved building plans. Unfortunately, because of the bureaucratic bottlenecks in getting the needed and necessary approvals, many landowners start their buildings without approved plans. When regulatory agencies come around building sites to ask workers to stop work, property owners resort to bribing government officials to allow them to continue to build. When they mark such buildings for demolition, bigger bribes are paid to avert the demolition. It’s a hush-hush thing. Once money exchanged hands, while the “Stop Work” mark will not be allowed to be cleaned off, the property owner is however allowed to continue to work unharassed. In my neck of woods, where I live in Abuja, there are many such buildings littering the place.

After sorting Housing Ministry officials and regulatory agencies’ staff, property owners now have to contend with building contractors. Some of these contractors end up doing shoddy jobs either by error of omission or commission. In some cases, it is the landowners that will tell the contractor to manage building materials because he or she does not have much money. Thus, the contractor does as instructed by his or her client by not using sufficient materials as required in standard practice. In many other instances, building contractors will collect money for enough genuine materials but out of selfish interest will end up buying substandard woods, irons, pipes, cables, wash hand basins, toilet seats, sockets, steels, blocks, roofing sheets and other building materials. All in a bid to maximise profit on the building project. I once rented an apartment in Abuja where one can use fingers to drill a hole in the wall due to the substandard products used in building the estate.

There is another category of sharp practices which lead to building collapse in Nigeria. This has to do with property developers who get the needed approvals to build perhaps three-storey buildings but end up building seven on the plot of approved land. The truth is that the foundation needed for a three-storey building is not the same needed for a seven-storey building. In another instance, many abandoned buildings are worked on and completed years after work had stopped on them without any stress test conducted on such buildings. Thus, either while under construction or shortly after the building may have been completed, they collapse like children’s sandcastles.

Back to the Ebute Metta collapsed building story. Acting Coordinator, National Emergency Management Agency, Ibrahim Farinloye, told pressmen that the collapsed structure had earlier been marked for demolition and that another three-storey building on Lagos Street, about 200 metres away from the Ibadan Street incident, has shown signs of distress with part throwing pebbles and falling off. The building had also been marked as distressed but the occupants were deviant. However, the building has been re-sealed and occupants evacuated by officers of Lagos State Buildings Control Agency. This throws up the issue of enforcement. If truly the officials of LSBCA had not been compromised, why should it take them ages after a building has been marked for demolition as a result of distress before such buildings are demolished in a controlled manner?

As far as I am concerned many of the building collapse incidents across the country are preventable if and only if the relevant authorities are alive to their responsibilities and refuse to be compromised. In as much as there are government officials willing and ready to give fake C of O and building approvals for a fee, in as much as building standards could be compromised by greasing the palms of approving authorities, in as much as there are building contractors ready to compromise standards for their clients or milk their clients dry for super profit, there will continue to be building collapse with avoidable fatalities.

The way out is for all those who are connected in the building value chain to follow due process, refuse to compromise standards and prompt enforcement exercises when the wrong things are done. This is the rainy season with prospective flooding in many states, building control agencies ought to be out now carrying out stress tests on many buildings especially high-rise ones and ensuring that buildings that failed the test are demolished in a controlled manner without delay. As the saying goes, a stitch in time saves nine!