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NBRRI moves to end building collapse, road failure

By Abosede Musari and Otei Oham, Abuja
06 February 2017   |   4:10 am
Towards ending building collapse and road failures, the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI), a parastatal under the Ministry of Science and Technology, has unveiled the first edition of its engineering sub-grade soils Atlas.

Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu (left), representative of the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Hajiya Salma Yusuf Mohammed, DG, Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI), Prof. Danladi Slim Matawal at the NBRRI international conference; ‘Construction Summit 2016’…in Abuja yesterday.<br />

Towards ending building collapse and road failures, the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI), a parastatal under the Ministry of Science and Technology, has unveiled the first edition of its engineering sub-grade soils Atlas.

The document, which is a product of 35 years research on the different soils in each of the states of the country, provides data to engineers for use in the design and construction of infrastructure.

Speaking at the public presentation of the Atlas in Abuja, Director General of the agency, Professor Danladi Matawal, stated that Nigeria has hitherto experienced many cases of building collapse and road failure because adequate data were not available to engineers who designed the projects.

He added that with the Atlas, engineers can now know the properties of the soils available in the areas where they are putting up their projects, a situation which will now permanently put to rest, cases of infrastructure failure.

According to him, the Atlas will have universal application in the design and construction of earth and gravity dams, bridges, road works, retaining wall structures, tunneling, seeping control, slope stability, shallow and deep foundations for all structural works.

For the director of Road Research, Dr. Francis Aitsebaomo, who has led the team of researchers since 1983 to date, the soil samples were collected from various locations, with re-validation tests conducted several times to know the quality of the soils for all manner of construction.

In his remark, president of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Kashim Ali, said if the Atlas had been available many years ago, the cost of infrastructure would have been cheaper in Nigeria.

An elated Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, said with the Atlas, many of the problems Nigeria is experiencing with building and road collapse, will be over because of the soil data it provides.

“The Ministry of Science and technology will not rest in its resolve to defeat poverty, create jobs, stimulate economic growth and strengthen the Naira through innovations”, he said, pledging that he would write the Federal Executive Council on the importance of the Atlas map and its use by various ministries.

In a related development, the Director General, Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI), Prof. Danladi Matawal has explained the role of the agency in halting the trend of building collapses in the country.

Receiving members of House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology, led by its Chairman,. Beni Lar, during an oversight visit, Prof. Matawal said the agency has been aggressive in recent years, in conducting researchers aimed at institutionalizing contemporary techniques of constructions.

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