Worried by the collapse of a 21-storey building in Ikoyi, Lagos, estate surveyors and valuers have advised that real estate investors and developers should protect their investments and also save lives by embracing ethical practices while carrying out their business.
The building professionals, under the aegis of Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Lagos State chapter, explained that investors should follow building regulations and international best practices by engaging requisite professionals for construction of projects.
“Property developers must desist from shortcut method while trying to cut cost which leads to losses and at the same time cause death of innocent citizens who, unfortunately, are breadwinners in their families,” Olabisi Demola-Alade, the branch chairman, warned.
“This is so saddening and we must all work together to end this nature of calamity,” she added, noting that Lagos has had enough of bitter account of building collapse leading to loss of lives and investments worth billions of naira in the last two decades.
The chairman recalled that between 2011 and 2019, over 84 buildings collapsed across Nigeria and only 21 out of the 84 occurred outside Lagos. According to the figures, 59 percent of the collapsed buildings in Lagos in 2019 were existing structures while 41 percent were under construction.
Among other factors, use of substandard building materials, the deployment of cost-cutting techniques in housing construction, which are unsafe, and the lack of professional supervision at various levels of the construction process have been identified as causes of building collapse in Nigeria.
Demola-Alade warned further that Nigeria cannot continue to allow excuses that culminate in disaster and great losses, stressing that “now is the time for all of us to stand together and say no more building collapse.”
“I call on every landlord, real estate investor, housing stakeholder, professionals and experts in the built sector to embrace the laws and international best practices relating to erection of buildings as regulated by LASBCA and other relevant agencies,” she pleaded.
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The chairman assured that estate surveyors and valuers were readily available in Lagos for professional services that might be required by all and sundry, disclosing that the Lagos State branch of NIESV has over 2,000 certified and registered Estate Surveyors and Valuers that are available to offer professional services to real estate investors.
“We offer professional services at affordable cost which will help to protect investments from any form of danger and also help to reduce/control any form of waste of hard earned resources and losses,” the chairman said.
She noted that Estate Surveyors and Valuers were the core professionals in the real estate sector, which is why they are pained by any kind of development that results in loss of lives and billions of naira emanating from failure of real estate investors to follow building regulations and international best practices by engaging requisite professionals.
“ The laws of Lagos State requires that a certified and registered structural engineer should be on ground at every storey building site to monitor all material inputs at every stage and certify that they are the recommended standards before issuing certificate in defence of the building,” she said.
Continuing, she said, “Estate Surveyors and Valuers are very competent professionals who are the first to be engaged in building. They are ethical professionals who determine the extent of input of other professionals in a building project and the cost of the project. They help the owner of the building to manage cost in a competitive manner that ensures that all standards are met.”
