EDIDIONG IKPOTO writes that despite a plethora of regulatory agencies to check the shortcomings of real estate developers in Lagos State, buildings continue to collapse in the state claiming 60 lives in six months
VARIOUS media were once again awash with news of the collapse of a three-storey building in the Okota area of Lagos state, on Saturday, May 7, 2022, which caved in like many others before it.
While this tragic collapse may have saturated the media in an accustomed fashion, there was an element of indifference exhibited regarding the news, perhaps due to the absence of casualties that characterised other similar incidents in the state.
There are people who believe that the atmosphere created by the incident was not necessarily the absence of the spectacular in the form of casualties, but rather an absence of the spectacular due to the sheer frequency of buildings collapse in Lagos.
Putting things in perspective, the Okota building collapse occurred barely five days after a three-storey building had collapsed in the Ebute-Metta area of the state, killing at least 10 persons. Ten weeks before that time, another storey-building had caved in, killing at least five people in the process.
However, the tragedies referenced above paled in comparison to two separate collapses which took place five years apart. In 2016, a construction project by Lekki Gardens tragically crashed like a house of cards, and no fewer than 34 lives were lost. Fast-forward to November 2021, perhaps the most catastrophic building collapse in the history of the state was recorded after a 21-storey building by Fourscore Heights Limited collapsed in Ikoyi, killing not less than 45 people beneath its rubble.
It goes without saying that over the past few years, there has been an aggressive increase in demand for residential buildings in Lagos, ostensibly due to the commercial muscle of the state, and coupled with the concomitant urban migration.
Further complicating this situation is the fact that Lagos State remains one of the smallest states in Nigeria in terms of land mass, with a 1,171 km² out of the 923,768 km² of Nigeria’s land mass. The reality of this is that some 22 million people have to jostle for homes in a densely packed geographical entity that continues to cringe by the day.
This is perhaps why, despite its size, which is 21 times smaller than other states in the country, Lagos State remains a rich hive for real estate development, with a market size that contributes more than 6% of the state’s Gross Domestic Product.
However, one factor that has made the booming Lagos real estate market, a razor’s edge between a boon or a bane, is the sectoral inflation that has caused an exponential spike in the price of building materials. In the last ten years, the prices of cement, building rods, timber as well as other key building materials have witnessed an almost 200% price hike.
Further exacerbating the situation is that there is no indication of an end to the unyielding price hike that has gripped the sector and as a result, real estate developers have to cut corners and sometimes resort to inferior building materials in order to circumvent what is becoming a more capital-intensive business.
Curbing this necessitated the creation of the many regulatory agencies of government saddled with the responsibility of ensuring compliance to the mandatory professional canons.
In Lagos State, there are at least three government bodies tasked with the responsibility of enforcing the acceptable standards of real estate development in the state. At the top of this food chain is the Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, charged with the responsibility to plan, devise and implement the state policies on Physical Planning and Urban Development. The ministry is headed by a commissioner, who is assisted by a permanent secretary.
Also, there is the Lagos State Building Control Agency, with the vision to ensure that buildings in Lagos State are designed, constructed and maintained to high standards of safety so as to avoid loss of lives and property through its building regulatory system, “We aim to achieve zero percent building collapse,” says a statement on LASBCA website.
Also, charged with regulatory and enforcement power is the Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Agency, otherwise known as Planning Permit Authority started from the Development Control Department under the Ministry of Physical Planning. This department performed the main functions of Lagos State Urban and Regional Planning Board, which was established on 28 April, 1998 by virtue of Lagos State Edict No. 2 of 1998 in line with the Nigerian Urban and Regional Planning Law (Decree) No. 88 of 1992.
Sadly, these establishments are unable to reduce the rate buildings collapse and it is this reality that has led many experts to intensify calls for more rigid regulation of real estate development in the state to avoid further tragedies.
Last week, during the just concluded 2022 edition of the Lagos Architects Forum, the President of the Nigerian Institute of Architects, Enyi Ben-Eboh cited shortcuts, lack of due diligence, and ineffectual regulation as the primary reasons behind the increased buildings collapse in Lagos.
During a media chat at the forum, Ben-Eboh said due to Lagos’s population size and high demand for real estate, most practitioners had developed a habit of circumventing due process.
He said, “It’s unfortunate that the Lagos area seems to be leading in terms of how frequently buildings collapse. This is not unconnected to the fact that Lagos is a very densely populated area and the demand for land is very high. So, people in a bid to make money cut a lot of corners.
He further stated that while the relevant agencies of government had been active in the area of approval, lack of enforcement had contributed to the menace of building collapse in the state.
Similarly, a building expert and the Director, Centre for Applied Research and Technology Innovations (ARTI), Yaba College of Technology, Dr. Akinsola Olufemi, during a capacity building workshop organised by the Nigerian Institute of Builders have said that 95% of construction projects in Lagos State run afoul the mandatory soil test.
According to him, soil testing is crucial in construction because it determines the depth and length of the pillars that will be inserted into the soil to lay the building’s foundation. The results of soil testing are used to determine the likelihood of foundation problems and the best construction methods to use.
He said, “A lot of buildings are collapsing today because we don’t do things right in Nigeria. 95% of buildings in Lagos do not conduct soil tests. I am from the Building Department, Yaba College of Technology, and I am the director of Applied Research, Technology and Innovation.
“One research we did showed that most of the developers did not have consultants, let alone engage in soil investigation. It is only high-profile buildings that these are carried out on.”
In an exclusive interview with The PUNCH, Olufemi further noted that the bulk of regulatory activities today place too much emphasis newer buildings while older buildings who pose risk of collapse are left unattended to.
He said, “The two buildings that recently collapsed, they are not new buildings. They have been in existence for many years. In 2005, when I was General Secretary of NIOB, I told them when I called a press conference that more old buildings will be collapsing than new ones. The new regulation we have is specifically targeting new buildings, not old buildings that have been built many years before the regulation. The only time the regulation will focus on them is when there is a need to rehabilitate or renovate them; but, buildings that have been in existence for 40, 50 years, they don’t look at them.
In Nigeria, we do not take cognizance of re-evaluation of buildings after construction. They were constructed within certain parameters. The constructions are based on the load they were supposed to carry. There is what we call live load or imposed load (the load you bring into the building after it has been constructed). It should not be more than 1.5 kilonewton per metre square, if it is a residential building. If it is a commercial building, it is 2.0 kilonewton per metre square. If it is an institutional building and religious building, it is 3.0 kilo newton per metre square.”
According to Olufemi, the rainy season also played a contributory role in causing weaker structures to cave in once the water level begins to wear out the strength of the foundation.
“However, some of the residential buildings today have been converted into religious worship centres without cognisance of the load it was meant to carry. Apart from that, there is the effect of water on the foundation. If you design a structure to carry 100 kilogram of load, when the water is far from touching the foundation, when the water level increases (during the rainy season), close to the bottom, the capacity of load-carrying will be reduced to 60% per cent of the original load it was built to carry.
“That is why, in the rainy season, more buildings collapse than the dry season, because the water level becomes higher. Yes, the regulatory authorities are doing what they can do within their capacity, but efforts of the government should not only be focused on new buildings. It should also address existing stock of buildings, because we have more of old buildings collapsing than new buildings now.”
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