Building collapse: Is the National Building Code a stillbirth?

By Dada Jackson

Experts and stakeholders in the built environment are worried that the National Building Code bill has not seen the light of day several years after its draft was sent to the National Assembly for a legal backing.

Many experts including the National President of the Nigerian Institute of Building, Kunle Awobodu, are of the view that the building code would have curtailed the embarrassing spate of building collapse being recorded across the country.

The National Building Code (NBC) is a draft document formulated by the seven professional bodies in the built environment for the purpose of putting in place guidelines that will further strengthen the construction industry.

The draft document was sent to the National Assembly for over eight years but up till now, it is still a subject of debate.

There was a time it was learnt that it had passed the third reading and was already at the committee stage of the whole house.

As of the end of the life of the eighth Assembly, nothing was heard of the draft bill.

A former President of the NIOB, Mr Chucks Omeife, posited that it was not the function of the National Assembly to pass the draft bill of the National Building Code into law.

His words: “The responsibility of the National Assembly is not to pass the NBC into law but you provide an enabling law that would back the National Building Code. Up until the life of the 8th Assembly lapsed, nothing was heard about the state of the bill.”

Omeife lamented a situation where the National Assembly is foot-dragging on the issue of providing an enabling law to back the NBC.

Speaking in similar vein, a quantity surveyor, Mr. Wasiu Kareem, wondered why it was taking “eternity” for the National Assembly to do the needful.

According to him, the National Building Code is a well-thought out document which has the input of all the seven professional bodies in the construction industry.

He urged members of the National Assembly to expedite action on the passage of the enabling law in order for the bill to see the light of the day.

On his part, a development economist, Dr. Ifeayin Nwachukwu, opined that the draft bill of the NBC by now ought to have been in use by all relevant professionals and stakeholders in the built environment.

According to him, the coming into fruition of the code would no doubt serve as a guiding tool for everyone that has one thing or the other to go with the construction industry.

He said, “My appeal is to members of the National Assembly who belong to the built environment to spearhead the crusade in seeing that the discussion of the National Building Code is in the front burner.

He expressed the belief that the current Assembly would deem it fit to look in the direction of the bill.