From Wilson Okereke, Afikpo
The alarming increase in the incidence of building collapse is expectedly causing deep concern among experts in the built sector, as well as to other Nigerians.
One such expert is the Chairman of the Ebonyi State Chapter of the Nigeria Institute of Town Planners, Uchenna Jacob Nwafor, who attributed the reason for rising incidents of buildings collapse to the unwholesome tendency to exclude building experts in the execution of construction projects. In this interview, he sheds more light on this.
What do you think are the causes of incessant building collapse in the country?
A lot of things are involved such as aggregate; sometimes the aggregate used in casting columns and beams determine the strength of the building, the size of the rods, and position of the structure, these are what the professionals in the building industry usually look at holistically. Other factors are non-involvement of the professionals in construction works because of the belief that our forefathers had equally built their houses in the past without the services of the experts and on this note, they can easily tell the mason man to go ahead with the work without considering the fact that the houses then, were made of mud and without much load. Presently, decking is always needed as other structures on top usually constitute a big load and they need to be properly checked by the relevant professionals, besides that building collapse is not caused by a particular issue rather it is a whole lot. Can you believe that some persons do erect buildings without checking the soil content and some even build in a sloppy environment without caring to scrape the area.
What is your advice to those who feel that they can do it on their own?
I can tell you affirmatively that to repair what has spoiled is more difficult than starting afresh. Once one wants to do something, let the person get relevant professionals, who will guide the process to avoid wastages because once a building gets to a stage where it has a vertical crack from the first floor to the down, to amend such will cost a lot of money and the problem will be on the developer. That is why I am saying that it is better to start well rather than to be cutting corners.
Please educate our readers, both parents and senior secondary school students, about Town Planning as a profession?
It is simply the mother of other professions concerning building works in terms of layout designs. We are usually the first to enter into the field because it is what the town planner designs that the surveyors will work with, same is applicable to the engineers, provided the work falls in building environment. Additionally, we are the people who make an environment livable because we know how to place projects to make the town functional.
How does your organization relate with the state government?
We are relating cordially with the Ebonyi State government in the sense that presently, we have our members as directors in the Ministries of Lands and Survey and Urban Development, we have HOD Town Planning in the Ministry of Capital City Development, we have the State Coordinator of NEWMAP who is also a planner, we have Permanent Secretary, formerly in the Ministry of Environment and presently in the Ministry of Trade and Investment in the person of Dr Emmanuel Nwafor. The relationship between our organization and the state government is smooth and as I earlier said, we are the forerunners even most of the layouts in this town were designed by the town planners. Before the surveyors move into the site, the town planners must have finished their job. In a nutshell, every job starts and ends with the town planners, we are in synergy with the government and our members are doing their best to ensure that we do not have a chaotic environment. Without town planners, things will not go the way they are supposed, there will be chaos everywhere, this is why there are designs in every junction because we always believe that there are conflict points but with the service of the town planners, road crashes will be reduced, really people need good environment to live and work.
How can a private citizen feel the impact of your services?
In Enugu State, we have pockets of layouts and most of them are individually owned. Whoever that comes to the town planners will get his design and during the construction work, town planners shall be invited for supervision to ensure that the work is in compliance with the design. In Ebonyi State, I believe that with time, we will be able to sell the idea to the public. For instance, the Centenary City has a master plan and it is always the sole responsibility of the town planners to monitor what is being done and any situation that requires to be reviewed, such can be done to ensure any project conforms with the original plan. Master plans are not rigid, they can be reviewed once deviation is noticed in the job. A case study is Abuja where many persons had deviated in developing structures, but immediately Mallam Nasir el-Rufai came in as the FCT Minister, he demolished those buildings without considering their worth. The best option is to look holistically at the master plan to know if what is approved is being implemented.
What are you doing to let the public understand the services of the town planner?
Currently, we are pushing for the restoration of Town Planning Authority in states because it is expected that every local government area should have such establishment to bring the town planning administration close to the grassroots. We have done advocacy visits to some council areas trying to tell them the need for our services. An individual who owns land can engage the services of our member for design to beef up the status of the land and in the case of selling, the price will go up.
With the resuscitation of the Town Planning Authority, we shall begin to have pockets of layouts in the council areas. As it stands now, nobody can deride Abakaliki for not meeting up with the status of being a state capital because there are so many designs in the urban such as Agbaja Azummiri Layout, Aguogboriga, Democracy Estate, Nkaliki, Hatchery and other ones and they are well organized unlike in the community land where people can easily put road anywhere they want. We have been trying to educate the public and with time, we will have a better result.
What other services can town planners render to people?
Before one will start any construction work, the person will get a design, though it is a process which usually starts from buying of land, survey, building plan design, site analysis and goes all the way to presentation of job for registration; thereafter the professional will check the design to know whether it is in line with what is existing or if it agrees with what is seen within the neighbourhood.
The professionals will equally assess the quality of the materials to be used and also check if the height of the building is obtainable within the neighourhood. Other things to be considered are the movement in the building, air space and if there will be light in the building. All these need to be checked before an approval will be granted to the builder.
I reiterate, everything about the building starts and ends with the town planners because the drawing will be firstly presented to the town planner who is in charge of the agency and before the final approval will be granted, the head of department will endorse and give final recommendation before the commissioner will sign.
Therefore, our services are unquantifiable, we have a whole lot of roles to play in building environment.