WARNING! Building Collapse Will Become Rampant In Abuja – Engineer Reveals How To Avoid Falling Victim

A certified Engineer, John Okangba, who is conversant with the Abuja housing terrain has warned that building collapse is likely to become rampant in the Federal Capital Territory over infiltration by quarks.

The engineer issued the warning over the current trend of building collapse in the two major cities of Nigeria- Abuja and Lagos.

Currently, Nigeria’s economic capital, Lagos, has been hit with cases of building collapse.

Between November 2021 and May 2022, Lagos has seen four major building collapses.

They are a fourscore height building in Ikoyi on November 1, 2021 with 44 casualties; 3-story building on Akanba Crescent on February 12, 2022 with two casualties; 3-story building collapse on Ibadan Street on May 1, 2022 having ten casualties and a 2-storey building at Ago Palace Way on May 7, 2022.

According to Brookings.edu, there are over 161 building collapses in Lagos alone between 2001 to 2021, displacing over 6,000 households.

A break down showed that 78.4 per cent of the buildings were residential, 12.8 per cent were commercial, and the remaining 8.8 per cent were institutional buildings.

In Abuja, a three-storey building collapsed in Kubwa Satellite town with two casualties in August 2022.

Back in July 2020, a two-storey building under construction in Abuja collapsed trapping ten people.

In the FCT, reported data on building collapse in Abuja, showed that 49 deaths have been recorded between 2008 and 2018.

Nigeria needs to bridge housing gaps of 20 million, but there are concerns about the affordability. However, the more concern is the quality of the houses.

Okangba said, “Some of the buildings in Lagos collapsed because they either failed to do the soil test or ignored the outcome of the test. In terms of construction, if you want to erect any, you have to conduct a soil test to know the strength of the ground.

“So many buildings including estates in Abuja were not erected with cognizance to the test. Some of the buildings falling in Lagos have the foundation of a two- or three-story building, but going further the engineers introduced more decking. And before you know, the building will start to sink.

“Abuja has good soil. They have stronger ground compared to that of Lagos. So many of the building collapse is as a result of the carelessness of some of our engineers. Some of the engineers are concerned with what they will get and do not care about the aftermath. For instance, some of the estates in Abuja are left in the hands of quacks.”

The Engineer argued that the activities of quacks is the greatest threat faced in the housing industry.

He said, “Some of the consultants when an estate under construction has been fenced round, they will leave some of the building in the hands of quack engineers. As regards some of the collapses happening in Lagos and Abuja, many of the buildings will require you to reconstruct after buying them to make sure they are strong.

“Some of the estates in Abuja, particularly, the ones in Kaura and Apo areas, when I visited the sites, I discovered they were left in the hands of quacks who did not understand the job. Even in the future, all this carelessness will affect Abuja as usual.

“A lot of Abuja engineers have no certification and are covered by consultants. We have registered engineers and some who are not. Those who are not registered, if something happens, they (the engineers) will run away and there is no way you can get them. But if the engineer is registered, his certificate will be withdrawn until he gets it right.

“When you want to acquire a house in Abuja, the only way you can find out a house that is solid is when you employ the service of another engineer or your own engineer who will assess the structure. The engineer will be able to dictate the area is faulty.”

According to him, many engineers in Abuja operate without certification, adding that with their activities, the country’s capital may witness many collapse in the coming years.

Okangba said, “We are likely to see a series of building collapses in Abuja if quacks continue to handle building projects. It will definitely happen. If a building stays from ten to fifteen and if the foundation is faulty it will begin to show. It may not happen immediately, but in the next fifteen years it will become rampant in Abuja, because too many of the buildings have been mishandled by quack engineers.

“But generally, Nigerian engineers have improved overtime. Anybody thinking of erecting a high-rise building is supposed to go for the qualified engineers and consultants. The risk of building collapse is that people may die, the money spent will be wasted and the land might be taken over by the government.”