Councils seek National Building Code enforcement

• Published On: 22 July 2024 at 18:40

The Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria and the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria have urged the government to enforce the country's building laws.

This comes after several building disasters in the country in recent years.

Between 2022 and 2024, Nigeria experienced 136 building collapses, resulting in at least 26 deaths.

Between January and July 14, 2024, the country experienced at least 22 collapses, resulting in over 22 deaths.



According to the Building Collapse Prevention Guild, Nigeria's first building collapse occurred in October 1974 in Oyo State, killing 27 people.

Since then, there have been a number of incidents, notably the fall of Lagos' tallest building on November 1, 2021, which killed 52 people.

CORBON and COREN have expressed concern over regulatory inadequacies in the country's enforcement and punishment of building code violations.


They recently gave many press briefings in Abuja.

Prof. Sadiq Abubakar, president of COREN, commented, "The leading causes of collapses vary from one location to the other but from investigations and research conducted over time, they include the use of substandard construction materials, structural failure, illegal changes in the use of buildings, poor soil/geotechnical investigations, and sharp and corrupt practices, among others."

He was especially concerned about the growth of illicit miners in residential areas, who were causing structural damage to buildings.

"The proliferation of illegal miners even within residential areas, as reported in some quarters, is a danger to the structural stability of buildings," stated Mr. Johnson.

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Abubakar also stated that Nigeria could not investigate building collapses that had resulted in the loss of life and property due to a lack of trained personnel.

He also claimed that the council had taken steps to train investigators to fill the identified inadequacies in the sector.

"COREN has begun the development of critical mass engineering infrastructure failures and forensic investigators." "Discussions with the Nigeria Building and Roads Research Institute and the Chartered Institute of Fraud and Forensic Investigators are currently underway," he stated.


Meanwhile, Dr Samson Opaluwah, Chairman of CORBON, stated that the council recognised the statutory professional duties of construction and built-industry practitioners as outlined in their respective formation Acts and the National Building Codes.

He proposed that the government establish legislation to enforce the National Building Code.

"CORBON recommends the enactment of laws to enforce the provisions of the National Building Code, which has long been approved by the Federal Executive Council, as a matter of urgency," the chairman added.

Opaluwah also requested that interim Executive Orders be made ensuring that all new construction in the country complies with the provisions of the National new Code.

"Specifically to stem building collapse, the immediate enforcement of provisions of Sections 2.44 and 2.62 of the National Building Code (2019), which require the submission and usage on site of Builders Construction Methodology, Builders Project Quality Management Plan, and Building Construction Programme prepared by a registered builder, in the construction of building projects," according to him.

He also urged state and local governments to adopt the National Building Codes in their jurisdictions to maintain sanity and professionalism in the built environment.

He also noted that developers were advised to obtain letters of indemnity from the builder in addition to their current CORBON practice licence before engaging the builder in projects.