In a bid to address the looming threat of climate change, the Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON), has urged professionals in the building industry to ensure the construction of eco-friendly buildings.
Samson Opaluwah, chairman of the council, made this call over the week during a workshop to members of the Nigerian Institute of Builders in Facilities Management, (NIBFM) on the heel of the windstorm that destroyed houses in Ogun state after a rainfall on Sunday, April 20.
“The sort of thing that happened in Lagos and Ogun states can not be divorced from climate change. And what we can use to address climate change is green buildings.
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“They are environmentally friendly homes. Homes that will not use too much carbon because carbonation is the norm where so that you will deflate the ozone layer,” he said.
Opaluwah revealed that only the Federal Capital Territory and two other states have embraced the Council Projects Monitoring & Evaluation Unit (PEMU) which was established to prevent hazards of building construction.
He called on other state governments to leverage PEMU, describing it as the council’s public service to the country.
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“We have therefore offered our hands in partnership with federal and state governments in ensuring sanity on the building construction sites throughout the country by the establishment of our Projects Monitoring & Evaluation Unit (PEMU).
“We urge both national and subnational governments to take advantage of this offer in managing their building sites effectively,” he said.
Green building (also known as green construction, sustainable building, or eco-friendly building) refers to both a structure and the application of processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building’s life cycle.
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Olufemi Akinsola, national chairman of the NIBFM, said the workshop was designed to train several professionals in the building spectrum ranging from quantity surveyors, to architecture, and engineering in the new area of facility management.
“They asked us to train the members in facility management. Whether you have a building, architecture, or engineering degree, it does not qualify you as a facility manager. It only provides a background that can upskill you to become a facility manager,” he said.
