The National President of the Nigeria Institution of Surveyors (NIS), Surv. (Dr.) Kayode Oluwamotemi fnis, has disclosed that the federal and State governments do not monitor construction of infrastructural projects, including the Third Mainland Bridge that was recently reconstructed.
He said the act was a clear waste of financial resources as many of the buildings, bridges and dams built by government have been found to have structural deficits.
He said this at the 2021 Annual Luncheon and Swearing-in of New Executives of Nigeria Institution of Surveyors (NIS), Oyo State Chapter, which held on Wednesday at the NIS Plaza, Ikolaba, Ibadan.
He told newsmen at the event that the 21 storey building that collapsed and killed many people would not have had any victim if there was proper monitoring, blaming the Lagos State government for not applying the right step at the right time, which led to untimely death of many workers on the building.
He said the cost of the Third Mainland Bridge was too much for government not to do the needful in the area of proper monitoring and called for urgent laws to make project monitoring a must in all government constructions and those embarked on by private individuals or corporate bodies.
“The last building collapse in Nigeria Lagos made the Surveyor community so sad, we are sad because it is something we could have prevented if this government at the federal and State levels have been serious.
“We have been calling the attention of the government to this issue overtime as we have always been having cases of building collapse, but the one at Ikoyi that claimed so many lives have made us cried out the more, especially in Lagos and nationally, we made sure we submitted a report to the panel, headed by Town Planner Toyin Ayinde.
“I spoke with the Chairman myself that one of the major requirements needed to prevent building collapse or to reduce it is to monitor the construction of the structures by surveyors.
“As I am standing here, I can easily tell you that no structure is being monitored in Nigeria, whether already constructed or under construction, so there is no government law enforcing monitoring the construction of our high rise buildings, we are not monitoring our bridges, we are not monitoring our dams and we are not monitoring our roads.
“Nigerian government spent a lot of money on these structures but we refuse to monitor, it is only when there is hazard that we will be shouting, imagine if the 21 storey building that collapsed at Ikoyi was monitored, they would have known that the building has been having some deficiencies.
“We are calling on governments at the national and State levels to make laws for us to monitor structures that we have spent billions of naira on, let me give you an example, ask them who is monitoring the Third Mainland Bridge? See the cost of the bridge reconstruction, it is the principal duty of a surveyor to do this and they as well know.”
The outgoing Chairman of Oyo NIS, Surveyor Prince Aderemi Kobiowu hammered on the need for members to give adequate support to the incoming executives and maintain discipline for the profession to continue to enjoy the dignity people accord it.
The newly-sworn-in Branch Chairman, Surveyor (Alhaji) Waheed Abiodun promised to keep up the enviable standard that the past chairmen have entrusted in him and the new executive members.
Present at the occasion was the representative of the Nigerian Army, traditional rulers, wives of the members of NIS Oyo Chapter and well wishers.
