Faced with the embarrassing scenarios of urban blight, unkempt and clogged toilets and roof leakages, the federal government recently announced a five-year mandatory building renovation policy. But experts in the building industry are of the view that this policy is scarcely workable because unprofessionalism and use of substandard materials always set the deterioration of buildings even before they are a year old. In this feature, Viewpoint Housing News puts together the propositions of a consortium of professionals regarding the work-ability of this initiative.
The experts who described the initiative as a welcome development however noted that it will be hard getting it through. The immediate past president of Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors Mrs. Mercy Torkwase Iyorter noted that the cost implication of renovating a building is determined by the level of the damage on the building.
Iyorter said there is need for the government to be realistic in its policies in the housing sector to address the problem of dilapidated buildings in the country.
She added, “Structures have a way of affecting the performance of staff, Just imagine when you go to a building like the Federal Secretariat [Abuja] where most of the ministries have their offices you will find out that most of the toilets are not working, the taps are also not working and even the lift is not functioning and the wall is also dilapidated.”
According to her, “This is a welcome development and surveyors welcome it if there is political will and there is a monitoring mechanism in place by the government…otherwise, it will only be a mere political declaration”.
The former president added that the initiative will enhance the nation’s structural stability and create jobs for artisans in the country while increasing productivity. She said that “The policy if fully implemented should be extended across the states as well as private buildings through subsidy to ensure that maintenance culture is revived for the healthy living of citizens
Another Estate Surveyor and Valuer Mr. Banjo Adeleke said the five-year mandatory renovation plan is not achievable because of poor maintenance culture of Nigerians.
Adeleke said, “There should be a taskforce of building inspectors comprising of experts from civil engineering, plumbing, carpentry and survey that will go from one public building to another to check and submit report on the state of the building in every three months.
“We don’t have to wait until five years to renovate buildings. What government needs to do is to revamp its maintenance culture as it was done in those days of compulsory sanitation. Inspectors go from house to house to ensure that every household was clean.” He added that mandatory day to day maintenance culture will take away need for overhaul of buildings.
“It must be noted that renovation has to do with the outer repairs of a building like painting while rehabilitation is the total overhaul of a building so government needs to understand these things.
“Maintenance has to do with the day to day running of the building. For instance, if you go to the federal secretariat in Abuja, you will discover that the lifts are not working, If this problem is tackled immediately we don’t have to wait for five years to renovate buildings,” Adeleke explained.
He said, “If you have a building project that cost you N200 million, if it is not maintained periodically say at interval of three months, you might end up spending more than that amount to maintain the building after 10 years. So there should be a revamp of maintenance culture in the country.”
He said developed countries of the world have employed the system of taskforce and it has worked perfectly.
Corroborating this submission, the former Chairman of Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), Mr. Olayinka Omotosho said there should be a deliberate plan to revamp maintenance culture.
Omotosho said government must be realistic in making policies and embark on concerted efforts to stop quackery in the housing and construction industry.
He said this is imperative because of the prevalence of unprofessional consultancy services that have resulted in use of inferior materials leading to fast decay of buildings.
Omotosho said, “Unprofessionalism has taken advantage of the pervasive ignorance of the populace about the profession, and quacks now corner jobs that are meant for the real consultants.”
He said government offices are usually faced with premature but steady and rapid deterioration, decay and dilapidation due to lack of maintenance, misuse and in other cases poor quality infrastructure.
According to him, “Most of these buildings were not equipped with modern equipment at the outset.” He observed that roof leakages and plumbing failure remain disturbing factors.
Another Real Estate developer and the Managing Director facility management of System Property Development Company (SPDC), Mr Zuwedu Sanni urged government to set up a ministry on public housing maintenance.
According to him the procurement cost which is 18 percent of the development leaves 82 percent under the wings of the managers or policy makers.
As professionals assess the workability of the new policy, some said the minister who is not a professional in the building sector might have been ill-advised.
