With the current effort to rid Lagos State of 394 identified distressed buildings, battles against building collapse assume new dimension. DAYO AYEYEMI reports:
Efforts to rid Lagos State of incidents of building collapse are becoming clearer as the Lagos State Government, through its agency on building control, has identified no fewer than 394 distressed buildings across the metropolis.
With the latest identified distressed buildings coupled with notices served, owners/developers have been given 90 days deadline to carry out the necessary integrity tests on them to show if their fitness for human habitation or ensure possible removal.
Since the list was made public, stakeholders in the built environment have not stopped to applaud the state government, enjoining it to follow the plan through.
According to them, the process would go a long way to reduce the frequency of building collapse in the state to bearest minimum.
While many residents doubt the sincerity of government to follow the plan through, citing some buildings marked for demolition 10 years ago that are still standing, others said the new initiative by the state authority “is the way to go.”
Between 1974 and 2022, Nigeria recorded 541 incidents of building collapse. It is on record that Lagos State accounted for 60 per cent of the incidents in Nigeria.
In 2022 alone, Nigeria recorded collapse of 62 buildings with Lagos State leading with 20, according to a report by the Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG).
The Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) had last week published the list of identified 394 distressed buildings across the state, stating the nature of the buildings and their habitation status
In a notice signed by LASBCA’s General Manager, Gbolahan Oki, the agency said it had served all statutory enforcement notices on the structures and requested the owners/developers of the structures to conduct a Non- Destructive Test (NDT) on the structures with no response from the respective owners /developers.
Lack of response from owners or developers, Oki said had necessitated final notices, given a time frame of 90 days for the conduct of NDT, re-engineering or removal of the identified structures by the owners or developers.
Where structures are removed by the agency, he said the cost of removal would be recovered from the owner/developer as required by the Law.
The publication read “Following the above, a final notice is hereby given to the owners/
developers of the underlisted buildings to conduct a Non – Destructive Test on the structures to ascertain their structural stability and where the structures turn out to be unfit for habitation, Demolition Permit should be obtained from the Lagos State Physical Planning Permit
Authority (LASPPPA) to remove the structures in the interest of public safety.
“Where the structure is recommended for re-engineering /renovation, the buildings to conduct a Non Destructive Test on the structures to ascertain their structural stability and where the structures turn out to be
unfit for habitation, Demolition Permit should be obtained from the Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority (LASPPPA) to pull down the structure in the interest of public safety.”
“A time frame of 90 days is hereby given after the publication of this notice for the conduct of NDT, re-engineering or removal of the identified
structures that are exhibiting signs of distress (as the case may be) failing which LASBCA shall not hesitate to remove the structures in the interest of public safety and in line with the regulatory provisions of the Law. “
Distressed buildings are prevalent in locations such as Lagos Island and Ebute Metta, among others.
Experts’ views
Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune, former President of the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB), Mr Kunle Awobodu, decried prevalence of distressed buildings in Lagos metropolis.
Awobodu reeled out factors contributing to distressed buildings to include absence of maintenance, construction errors, exposure to fire, sub-standard materials and faulty foundation among others.
He said “Buildings can become distressed due to design error, construction error, use of sub-standard materials, faulty foundation, lack of proper geotechnical survey, flood, weather and exposure to fire.”
While commending the government for taken the pains to identify the distressed buildings and their addresses, Awobodu said that the authority is being proactive in preventing collapse of buildings rather than waiting for the calamity to happen before responding.
“It’s a good way to go. Let the owners of the identified distressed buildings go ahead and conduct the integrity test to ensure the safety of the buildings for human habitation so that people can therefore go to sleep with their eyes closed,” he said.
He explained that some buildings could look distressed physically due to lack of maintenance by owners, but can still pass the integrity test.
Distressed buildings
According to the former President, IFMA, Nigeria, Mr Stephen Jagun, when a building is distressed, what it meant was that the building could no longer perform the functions of creating roof and shelter for the occupants.
“It becomes a risk to dwell in. Some parts of the building can no longer perform their functions. It means the foundation and the columns are weak” he said.
Jagun, a former Chairman of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Lagos Branch and Principal Partner, Jagun Associates, described distressed buildings as “dangers waiting to happen”.
He pointed out that the signs of a distressed building could been seen visibly at times through cracks on the wall, while some might not be visible to physical eyes, citing 21-storey Ikoyi Building Collapse.
According to him, unless one conducted an integrity test on the building, it would be difficult to determine if it’s a distressed structure.
“If a building makes is responsible for the lost of life, it is not good,” he said.
Corroborating Awobodu, Jagun said that most owners of distressed buildings, including tenants are in the habit of ignoring signs of distressed buildings
“When you see some of the signs of distressed buildings, owners can salvage them by bringing in experts to add additional columns. If the signs are bad, the buildings can be brought down,” Jagun said, noting that every component of the building has a life span.
He blamed lack of maintenance by building owners for the prevalence of distressed buildings in Lagos State.
“If you ignore the signs for years and do nothing about them, distresses will set in,” he said.
Another Facility Management’s expert, MrLekanAkinwumisaid “A building is distressed when structural members are no longer binding. You noticed it by cracks on the walls and disembarking of the mortar on the wall to the extend that it becomes dangerous to the occupants and the environment.”
According to him, building could be distressed due to poor construction, old age, and poor maintenance.
“The danger is that it can kill if nothing is done to salvage the condition. It can also be a hideout to criminals; it also creates an eye sore to the environment,”he said.
On how to salvage the situation, he explained thatbuilding’s owners could redevelop the building.
“The government can enforce planning laws to ensure the renovation is carried out by the owner or pull the building down for the safety of the environment,” Akinwumi said.
Immediate past President of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, and former Commissioner for the Ministry of Physical and Urban Development in Lagos State, MrOlutoyinAyinde, defined distressed buildings as “structures that have shown physical signs of weakness, structural instability and the lack of capacity to withstand the pressure of continued use.”
Their distressed condition, he said might have been the result of errors in construction, lack of maintenance or overuse.
“In some cases, they may have experienced shocks from tremors or soil disturbances/displacement,” he said.
According to him, distressed buildings were reckoned to be unfit for further human habitation, pointing out that the danger posed by the buildings must first be approached from the angle of the value of human life.
Beyond economic and material losses, Ayinde said that all stakeholders must consider the loss of destinies and opportunities that will never be reproduced because of the fatal nature of the impact.
“Loss of lives sometimes destabilises families and individuals in the ways we do not imagine; this is the area that we need to address and it is sufficient to halt such menace.
“We need to be careful when we are out salvaging them. I think it’s more appropriate to discuss preventing them from happening,” he said.
To halt menace of building collapse, Ayinde suggested the need to concentrate on the processes, pointing out that the right processes would produce the right results all things being equal.
“And when we refer to processes, they are about getting the right information from the right professionals on suitability of land, design of buildings, appropriateness of construction methods, maintenance practices and facility management,” Ayinde said.
Occupants of distressed buildings
Apart from structural failure emanating from building under construction, most cases of building collapse in Lagos metropolis stemmed from already identified distressed buildings with attendant lost of lives and valuables.
From interviews, some of the residents of distressed buildings are aware of the dangers of continuous staying in such buildings, but could not relocate immediately due to lack of fund or alternative accommodation.
For example, when a three- storey caved in at No 5 Ibadan Street, Ebute Metta,Lagos on May 21, 2022, no fewer than 40 people were trapped, with eight confirmed dead.
Some occupants, who were not around when the building collapsed confirmed that they were served notices three months earlier.
One of the occupants,who relocated before the incident, said he told other tenants to move out of the property due to the looming danger, but refused to heed the advice.
Secretary to Pa Similoja family, the original owner the building that collapsed Mr. Johnson OluyomiAdejare, said that official of LASBCA had served them (occupants) several papers.
According to him, it was at that point that the family took steps and had several meetings with the developer and occupants to let them know that the building was no longer habitable, that they should vacate.
“We held one meeting with them in January 2022 and another in February, despite the fact that LASBCA came to serve them notices to leave. “We even gave them money to leave but they were adamant,” Adejare said.
The collapsed building was contracted to a developer, MessrsRotak Nigeria Limited to develop 25 years ago under an agreement of build, operate and transfer.
Adejare said the contract was to expire by the end of May 2022, just about three weeks before the structure caved in.
“When we noticed that something was wrong with the building two years ago and we called the developer to look and see what to do.
“The real developer had died, but his wife took over. She kept collecting money despite the warning. The initial agreement was that she should use two years to do renovation. Our lawyer told her concerning that. The house is due to be handed over to the original owner by end of this month,” Adejare said.
Another son the building’s owner, SojiDosunmu, said he had pictures of LASBCA coming to carry out the test on the house. According to him, after the test, the result was that the house was no longer good for habitation, but residents were adamant.
The above testimonies were similar to what happened when a five-storey building collapsed in Massey Street, Lago’s Island in 2019, where more than 40 school children and residents got trapped.
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