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Stakeholders want legal backing for National Building Code

By on April 23, 2014

Stakeholders in the building and construction sector have called on the Federal Government to give legal backing to the National Building Code.

The code has been accepted by all stakeholders since 2006 but has yet to receive legal backing.

The stakeholders, in a communiqué issued at the end of the second Lafarge National Dialogue series, said the building code should be forwarded without further delay to the National Assembly for consideration and passage.

This, according to them, will help to achieve the desired sanity and safety in the building construction industry.

The dialogue, with the theme: ‘Building collapse: An assessment of building practices in Nigeria and the imperative for sustainable construction’, was meant to address the spate of building collapse in the country.

In the communiqué made available to our correspondent on Monday, the participants said incidents of building collapse had remained prevalent despite continued efforts by various professional bodies in the built industry and by various tiers of government.

They said while incidents of building collapse had remained a major challenge, professionals were unanimous that they were not in any way caused by the quality of cement available in the market.

The communiqué read in part, “Incidents of building collapse have remained prevalent despite continued efforts by various concerns and professional bodies in the built industry and at various tiers of government.

“Professionals are unanimous that cement is not responsible for building collapse and identify issues such as faulty designs, sharp practices, non-involvement of professionals in building projects, and over-loading due to change in initial building plans for economic gains, amongst others, as contributory factors to building collapse.

“The National Building Code should be forwarded without further delay to the National Assembly for consideration and passage to achieve the desired sanity and safety in the building industry.”

The participants also observed that the dearth of steel industries to drive the building sector was also a major challenge, noting that poor level of electricity generation and supply, and lack of efficient and properly equipped laboratories for testing materials had hampered certification and the growth process.

 

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