Some stakeholders at the Abuja International Housing Show have attributed the incessant collapse of buildings to poor professional supervision and use of substandard materials.
The participants voiced their opinions in different interviews in Abuja, during the 13th edition of the annual housing show.
The event, with the theme ‘Driving a Sustainable Housing Finance Models in the Midst of Global Uncertainty’, is a 4-day programme that started on Tuesday, July 23 and will end on July 26.
According to the respondents, the lack of professionalism in the building of most houses in the country is the main reason for the collapses.
Mr Christian Iheajumbu, a structural engineer and representative of Onduline Bituminous Corrugated Roofing Sheet, said that some buildings collapse because the roof was heavy, while others give way because quack engineers do not understand the intricacies in construction.
He said that some of the collapses were caused by the texture of the soil.
“When test on the texture of the soil is not carried out in the laboratory to know if the texture of the soil can carry one storey or bungalow, there will be problems if people put up two or three storey buildings without clearance.
“The resultant effect is that the building will collapse or you have a serious crack that will eventually result to collapse.
“So, in Nigeria, I feel we need to apply professionalism; we must use only those that know the work.
“Also, some clients insist on `managing everything’, forcing professionals to compromise standards. If that happens, at the end, you have building collapse,” Iheajumbu said.
The expert urged people seeking to own houses to engage professionals when planning their homes, saying that the measure would reduce heartache, destruction and pain resulting from the incidences of building collapse.
He said that affordable housing was desirable to all, adding that mud could be used to build a house and it would not collapse if the right personnel were engaged to construct it.
Mr Ngbede Edoh, a member of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN), who also spoke with NAN, said that most housing collapse occur because of lack of professionalism, and charged government to put regulations in place to check the menace.
Edoh also called on government to make infrastructure available so that most of the materials that were imported could be manufactured locally and their costs reduced.
Mr Sabitu Salawu, Chief Executive Officer of Sabit-Sala Nigeria Enterprises, on his part, said that substandard materials and lack of proper supervision was to blame for building collapses.
He said that most people buy substandard products to build and then engage people with little knowledge of construction to execute the building construction which could naturally lead to collapses.
Salawu urged citizens not to just dream of building houses but plan to build safe houses that would not cause regrets at the long run.
Speaking on the gains of the show, he said that it had boosted networking and knowledge gathering, and urged the organisers to replicate it in other metropolitan cities in the country.
NAN reports that the show brought together stakeholders in the real estate sector both in the private and public sector, with participants drawn from more than 15 countries.
