The Nigeria Institute of Building (NIOB) has visited the site of the collapsed three-storey building at the Federal Low-Cost Housing Estate in Umuahia, which came down in the early hours of last Saturday.
Speaking during the inspection, the Practical Committee Chairman of the Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria, Mazi Wisdom Okoro, attributed the cause of the collapse to poor management of the building production process and a lack of understanding of theoretical construction practices.
Mazi Okoro emphasized that building construction in Nigeria legally involves seven core professions. He expressed concern that many developers disregard these statutory requirements and building code components, which often leads to tragic outcomes.
Also speaking, the Registrar of the Nigeria Institute of Building, Mr. Ugwoeri John, and the Abia State Chairman of the Institute, Mr. Chinedu Nwanosike, echoed similar sentiments. They attributed the incident to the failure to implement the mandatory components of the National Building Code and urged the government to act swiftly to prevent further occurrences of building collapse in the state and country at large.
Some residents of the affected building, including Mr. Raphael Ukauzo, Mrs. Faithfulness Ifeanyichukwu, and Mr. Bright Ekeleme, recounted their ordeal. They said the incident happened around 3:00 a.m. on Saturday while they were asleep. According to them, the collapse involved one of the three-storey buildings allegedly belonging to Chief Ikechi Emenike, which fell onto their residential building.
They narrated how a five-month-old nursing mother was trapped in the wreckage and expressed gratitude to God that no lives were lost in the incident. The victims appealed to the government to urgently intervene and provide them with alternative shelter, as they are currently stranded and homeless.
