By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The Registrar of the Council of Nigerian Mining Engineers & Geoscientists(COMEG), Prof, Zacheus O. Opafunso and the President of Nigerian Mining and Geosciences society (NMGS) Surv Alabo Charlesye D. Charles have described the Gerrard Road Building Collapse as an avoidable Mishap.
Both miners who made the declaration in a statement signed and released on Wednesday in Abuja on behalf of COMEG and NMGS also expressed their condolences to the families of all those who lost their lives in the mishap.
They applauded the swift response of the State Government at Rescue and Investigation into the cause of the disaster saying that it is commendable as no building is worth the loss of a single life adding that Lagos State being one of the mega cities in the world is expected to be replete with superstructures and having reports of structural collapse of a meagre 21 storey structure sends a wrong signal to investors.
According to the statement, NMGS and COMEG as professional body and regulatory agency respectively, which are the first point of call for any construction project as the geotechnical properties of soils ultimately determine the type of foundation and structures that can be safely placed on any soil.
“As stakeholders in the construction industry, COMEG and NMGS are saddened by the recurrent incidents of building collapse in Nigeria”, the statement added.
They stated that while they appreciate the prompt setup of the independent panel by the Lagos state government, they would advise that COMEG and NMGS professionals should be included on the panel.
“The success of any construction project is dependent on the underlying foundation soil. Soils have a myriad of dynamics which could be at play and affect substructures even when foundation type might be right such as seismicity, liquefaction etc. and these dynamics are best studied/investigated by geologists.
“In the advent of disasters such as these, studies of the subsurface in relation to the phenomenon is of importance and these falls strictly in the purview of geologists.
‘’We hereby use this medium to appeal and call the attention of all concerned to the regulation of the COMEG and relevance of NMGS to civil constructions. It is hoped that the findings and lessons learnt from this exercise would assist government to formulate a better response to building development and ensure that civil projects serve their full design life in continuous safety’”
COMEG, the regulatory body for all professionals and firms in the geosciences, Mining Engineering and Metallurgy in the country, was established through the ACT No.40 of 1990 while NMGS is the professional body of all Geologists and Mining Engineers in the country.
