Stakeholders have called on the National Assembly to pass the National Building Code into law as part of efforts to stem building collapse in the country.
They stated this at the end of a one-day national conference on the Building/Construction Sector organised by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment in Abuja, themed: “Adherence to Standard Practices: Bedrock of Sustainable Development in the Building/Construction Sector.”
The communique signed by SON Director General, Dr Ifeanyi Okeke, also stated that the directive issued 13 years ago to evict SON from the ports to enhance ease of doing business should be reversed.
This, it observed, has become necessary because SON cannot be issuing the Nigeria Conformity Assessment Programme (SONCAP) certificates without being at the ports to inspect and test materials imported for construction and other sectors.
SON has said the non-adherence to standards and codes of practice in the construction process has resulted in building collapses, endangering lives, loss of property and damaging public trust in the sector.
It also noted that while there was nothing wrong with the adaptation of foreign codes and standards in the construction sector, such adaptation needs to address local conditions and peculiarities.
The organisations noted that current economic hardships and hyperinflation had affected the prices of construction materials in an upward trend and adherence to standards had become a challenge.
The conference declared that to arrest the spate of building collapses, the design of structures must be done solely by qualified professionals, while SON must ensure adherence to certification in construction materials to be used.
“The law on the use of professionals at all stages of building construction should be enforced. There must be a law to punish defaulting professionals, professional bodies, quacks, clients and investors. Regular integrity tests must be conducted on buildings, particularly when their intended purposes have been altered,” it stated.
Okeke, said: “Rapid urbanisation and rising population had placed immense demands on every infrastructure, making the building construction industry both an opportunity and a challenge. It observed that Nigeria’s growing population required a rapid increase in affordable housing, which brings with it the challenge of meeting demand without compromising on quality.
“Despite many sensitisation and awareness campaigns carried out by SON, many industry stakeholders and practitioners still lacked awareness of the standards required for safe, durable and sustainable buildings,” the participants added.
The conference further recommended that professionals in the building sector should stay strictly within their areas of competence while stakeholders, from contractors to suppliers, and artisans must be committed to using approved materials and adhering strictly to standards.
It recommended collective efforts to bridge knowledge gaps in the construction sector, particularly from the tertiary institutions level and advanced that SON must continue to maintain membership of the African Organisation for Standardisation and other international standardisation bodies.
