The Standard Organisation of Nigeria has advocated for stricter punishments for those responsible for building collapses in the country.
The building regulatory body made this call at a media parley held in Lagos recently.
The erstwhile Director General of the Standard Organisation of Nigeria, Farouk Salim, said findings from market surveillance conducted by SON’s task force revealed that there were substandard reinforcement steel bars in the market.
He said, “After a series of engagements with stakeholders in the sector, the Organisation carried out a full-scale nationwide enforcement in factories and marketplaces, and culpable dealers were sanctioned in line with the provisions of the SON Act No.14 2015. While these raids have greatly limited the availability of substandard steel bars in the markets there is still a need for more to be done.
“As a nation, we must imbibe and promote voluntary compliance to standards as is done in other parts of the world. Authorities responsible for granting building approvals must ensure compliance with all relevant requirements, processes, and procedures. Stiffer penalties must be meted on offenders and those who complicit in building collapse. You hardly hear of cases where the Contractor who handled the contract is prosecuted or punished in one way or the other.”
Salim noted that Collapse buildings happened more for non- compliance and poor checking of building construction and poor inspection by statutory bodies.
He declared, “The Organisation in the past 10 years has invested huge resources in building competence to carry out quality tests in the Building Industry nationwide. The continuous provision of laboratory equipment including mobile block testing machines has yielded positive results over the years.
“By implementing these measures, the Organisation seeks to ensure that all buildings in the country are safe, structurally sound, and built to withstand the various environmental and usage conditions they may face. Notwithstanding the existing measures already put in place to address this issue, I must acknowledge the need to continually upgrade the regulatory strategies for the Construction Industry in Nigeria to ensure the safety of Nigerians.
“By the Provisions of Section 5(2) of the SON ACT NO: 14 of 2015 all regulatory agencies or Organisation’s dealing with matters pertaining to, or related to standards shall do so in collaboration with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria for the purpose of uniformity of Standards. I therefore invite all agencies and Organisation’s falling under this category in the Building industry to work closely with SON toward ensuring a safe environment for all Nigerians.”
Speaking on the mission of attaining a safe environment for the citizens of Nigeria through standardisation, the SON’s boss said quality assurance was unending.
“The Organisation in collaboration with other sector regulators including the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Nigeria Building and Road Research Institute, Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, Raw Materials, Research and Development Council, the Ministry of Works and other developments agencies at both the state and federal levels is working tirelessly to address this menace. Collapse buildings happens more for non- compliance and poor checking of building construction and poor inspection by statutory bodies, “he noted.
