Builders lament governments’ neglect, urge professionals’ collaboration

Concerned about the prosperity of the profession, the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB), has expressed regrets that despite its unique roles in the society, governments remained hesitant towards providing the enabling environment to freely discharge their professional responsibilities.
  
NIOB President, Kenneth Nduka expressed this position at the opening of 2017 Builders’ Conference/Annual General Meeting entitled; “Regulatory Authorities: Panacea for Building Project Delivery in Lagos State” organized by the Lagos State Chapter of NIOB. 
   
He said government has failed to effectively regulate the activities of the industry during construction, rather it concentrate on pre and post construction activities, which constitutes a huge pain to the group.
  
According to him, the ever changing technological, economical, legal and environmental scenarios have precipitated the urgent need to situate building profession as a unique specialization that would rightly address the basic needs satisfying expectations of man is such areas as convenience affordability, structural integrity, functionality and economics.

“There should be health and safety plan for every building. Prevention of building collapse starts from the building foundation, the kinds of water used in mixing building materials, the type of cement amongst others. We must get all these right. Enforcement is expensive; there is the need for voluntary compliance for those concerned. One way or the other building owners in Lagos have flouted the regulatory rules and we can say 80 per cent of buildings in the state are illegal”.