Obviously disturbed by the incessant building collapse in the country, stakeholders have asked the Federal Government to enforce the use of local raw materials in the construction sector. The stakeholders drawn from the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) and the Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA) noted that the country is endowed with an avalanche of raw materials yet operators minimize the use of enough materials because of cost effectiveness.
The NSE and the NIA while reacting to losses incurred as a result of building collapse noted that building collapse occurs when developers fail to use the real professionals and when professionals fail to use the accurate solutions or formula while mixing their materials.
While speaking on the various building in the country, Mr. Adeboye Ibikunle, a civil engineer with one of the construction companies in Abuja said, if the raw materials are available, the idea of importing building materials will have been reduced and money will be reserved for other things.
According to him, “Nigerian government lack the technical know how to channel the various professionals in the country to use their talents to benefit the nation. There are a lot of professionals wandering about who should be gathered together and engaged meaningfully. There is no job really, but government could in this way create job and get these graduates being churned out every year from the universities busy.
“We have a lot of idle men and women in Nigeria because people in government have access to free money so they don’t have the need to look for ways of making money. If everyone is in need of money, you will see how they will be fighting to create means of making money. They don’t strive to make money because, there is an easy way of making money and that is through fraudulent means,”he said.
The NIA also revealed plans by Architects to help in the provision of affordable housing in the country, using locally sourced materials. The NIA President, Mr. Adibe Njoku, who spoke recently in Abuja said the project would be launched soon with a prototype in Abuja. “The walls may be made of mud and not blocks but when they are plastered and painted, nobody will know the difference. We want people to know that they can build a house with local materials without spending too much. “The materials will stand the test of time and will solve the problem of high cost of building for the poor man. It is the best approach to solving the housing deficits in Nigeria”
