I get seriously disturbed when I have the feeling and get information that nothing good comes out of Nigeria ' and by extension, Africa.This is not new. Several years of media onslaught on Africa and of course, the people and the government of Nigeria by the Western media ' as if nothing negative happens in their countries - have been unprecedented. As unconvincing as this may be, I know that I am not alone as apostles who believe that things can still work out well in my dear nation.It was, therefore, happy news when I read in The Punch, of October 27, 2011 that the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency 'saved the lives of scores of people from being killed in a collapsed building by warning them less than two hours to the incident'.According to the Chief Executive Officer of LASEMA, Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, the seven-storey building, located in Maryland, Lagos was used mainly for commercial activities as several offices were there. Several lives were saved from the aftermath of the collapsed building, due to the proactive initiative of LASEMA.The report added that LASEMA 'received information about a building that was about to collapse, so, we immediately came up with an emergency plan and informed all the occupants to vacate the building at 4.30pm.' Although, efforts of LASEMA could have been futile if the people were complacent, 'fortunately, all the occupants responded on time and less than two hours later, the building collapsed.'Cases of building collapse have been rampant in recent times with the resultant effects of colossal loss of lives and property and its debilitating effects on our corporate image, as a nation.A few examples suffice - In 2006, two buildings collapsed in Ebute Metta, claiming 37 lives, including the Nigerian Industrial Development Bank building, which killed two persons and injured 23 others. In November 2007, a two-storey building also collapsed along Okegbogbo Street, while another six-storey building along Imam Ligali Street affected other six-storey structure, which left 15 persons injured and one dead ' all in Lagos.On April 28, 2010, a two-storey market plaza in Oshodi, Lagos, collapsed and killed at least, four persons, leaving many injured while on August 11, 2010, another occurred at Ikole Street, Abuja, killing more than 13 occupants.Again, on November 5, 2011, in the mood of the Sallah celebration, a rear side of a storey building, along Salvation Army Road, Ibadan collapsed, leaving six occupants, including a six-year old boy, seriously injured.Buildings collapse after their structural frames break up when the loads on them are beyond their carrying capacities. This could be by natural causes, but oftentimes, as the case with Nigeria, man-made.Oloyede, Omoogun and Akinjare (2010), in a study, 'Tackling Causes of Frequent Building Collapse in Nigeria', identified specific causes of building collapse as the use of low quality and substandard building materials, employment of incompetent artisans, faulty design methodologies, weak supervision of workmen on site, non-compliance with building standards/specifications, non-enforcement of Town Planning laws, corruption and endemic work ethics.The study noted that the insurgence of inexperienced, stingy or overbearing building developers, who issue instructions concerning the way and manner building works should be carried out on site, which invariably, may not be in the overall interest of the project as 'suppliers of building materials are able to penetrate and influence the contractor by offering gratification as a subtle way of delivering low quality building materials.'Recent cases of building collapse have been reported in urban cities, where the rate of infrastructural development seems to be higher when compared to rural areas. This position was elucidated by the 'International Journal of Civil Engineering and Environmental Engineering' (Vol. 10 No.6).The publication observed that due to climate change, 'the people living in the low lying coastal areas of Southern Nigeria, particularly, in Lagos are under threat. About half of the population of Lagosians, living mainly in slums is exposed to this danger.'Experts have equally found tall buildings, having many floors to be prone to collapse because of pressure on the foundation, which supports the building often experienced more tension than low buildings, such as bungalows.
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