Scene of a collapsed building
A senior lecturer at the Department of Architecture, Modibbo Adama University (MAU) Adamawa, Arch. Bala Baba, has traced the causes of massive collapsed of buildings in Nigeria to quacks handling those projects.
Baba, who is also the Adamawa State Chairman of Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA) chapter told NATIONAL ACCORD in an exclusive chat after his inauguration yesterday, that if government can use the law to fight quackery in the building industry, it would end the sad stories of deadly collapsed buildings.
He said that clients cut corners to award their projects to people that charge low, not knowing the sad implications of their decisions.
“People want to use little money to build big houses so they prefer to go to quacks who can charge as low as ₦500, 000 thousand naira, because a professional will charge from three million naira and above since he is going to use original materials, ” he said.
He added, “these quacks will buy old iron rods that are removed from other collapsed buildings, instead of buying new iron rods and use more sand than cement to cast bins, this cannot allow the building to stand for a long time. “
He called on his members to sensitised the public on the danger of using quacks to handle their buildings, pointing out that some clients cannot differentiate between quacks and professional archtect and engineer, since quacks are more in number on the streets looking for jobs they lack professionalism to handle.
Baba urged members to work collectively as a family to tackle the issue of quackery and take the building industry to a higher level for protection of humanity and development.
He disclosed that the Adamawa State state branch of NIA was inaugurated in 2017, with 11 registered members, but noted with joy that today the chapter has over 32 registered members.
Baba also tasked members to contribute generously for growth of the chapter and also encourage students to register with NIA for training and other benefits.
