Oyo State Government has summoned the site engineer in charge of ongoing construction project at the site of a collapsed building in Ibadan.
The Director-General, Oyo State Bureau of Physical Planning and Development Control, Waheed Gbadamosi, disclosed this to journalists in Ibadan on Monday.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the two-storey building under construction at Sogoye area of Idi-Arere in Ibadan had collapsed on the evening of Friday, March 15.
No death was recorded from the incident, but some site workers who sustained various degrees of injuries are presently hospitalised on the bil of the state government.
Gbadamosi said that the site engineer was summoned to explain what led to the collapse of the building.
“Preliminary reports on the possible cause of the disaster revealed that standard materials were used for the construction, but we have found out that they did not allow the curing period to lapse before they continued with the construction.
“When you do your deck, you must allow it to cure for 21 days before you start to put blocks on it. They didn’t allow those three weeks to lapse.
“I think they were in a hurry to complete the building. I am sure, by the time they were putting more loads on it, definitely it would come down,” he said.
He stressed that the site engineer was not professional enough to advise his client to allow compliance with due process.
According to him, “It is like you are putting too much loads on your head, your neck will just crack and you will go down. So, that was what happened.”
Gbadamosi said that the site engineer would be reported to his professional body, Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria [COREN], if he fails to honour the invitation.
“If he fails to honour the invitation, we will report him to his professional body. By the time we report him to COREN, the body may de-register him,” he said.
He said government had always ensured that developers come with their own engineers, adding that such engineers would sign undertaking with government.
Gbadamosi said the undertaking would bear COREN’s stamp to undertake the supervision of any structure from foundation till completion.
“We have introduced a new system which directs that you return to us when you complete your building. We will come and examine whether you are worthy of being given a certificate of completion.
“You will pay a token, like N25,000, to get the certificate. If you are not given the certificate, it means the building is not worthy of being inhabited by any individual, not even goats,” he said. NAN
