Building collapse not ending soon, say project managers

The Chartered Institute of Project Managers of Nigeria has raised concern over the menace of building collapse in the country.

The organisation warned that the trend would continue if the government refused to engage project managers in construction activities.

Building collapses are common in Nigeria where millions live in dilapidated structures and construction standards were often flouted.

Enforcement of safety regulations and use of shoddy materials have been highlighted after a high-rise building under construction collapsed in the Ikoyi District of Lagos, killing at least 45 people in 2021.

Ten people were killed when a three-storey building collapsed in the Ebute-Metta area of Lagos in May 2022.

The government had called for improved construction standards, describing the frequency of building collapses increasingly embarrassing.

An architect and a fellow of the CIPM, Otunba Dejo Olawoye, described Nigeria as a country with the highest number of abandoned projects in Africa.

He stated these on Friday in Abuja during the induction of about 100 members who were inducted into the CIPM, a statutory organisation, established to train, approve and discipline all project managers within the nation.

He said, “Nigeria is a country with the highest number of abandoned projects in Africa, maybe in the world. Most 65 per cent of the projects were started 20 years ago and never completed.

“Even the ones that were completed are the ones that were not well managed. It’s one thing to do projects, it’s another thing that its serves its purpose.

“In the last one year, there have been much more collapsed building than ever in Nigeria; this actually a failure of government engaging project managers.

“Project managers are the end of every projects that make sure that the project is done and benefits are coming from it.”

Speaking at event, the President/Chairman Governing Council of the Institute, Dr. Victoria Okoronkwo, said that events of the recent times had challenged the institute a great deal and in an unusual manner.

She said the CIPMN have decided to concentrate most of its valuable energies in seeking for ways to enhance value-added mandates to not just their members, but to the society at large, without focusing much on the negative tendencies and its consequential distractions.

Okoronkwo said that was aimed at becoming alive to the statutory mandates with a view to exploring available measures required to support the government in addressing the myriads of challenges bedeviling the overall project management value chain in Nigeria.

She cited obvious instances of continued building collapses in the country, efforts to repair the terminal at MM2 in Lagos International Airport, poor state of Nigeria roads and other capital projects across the country.