The Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) has enjoined engineers to utilise its whistleblowing facility by reporting safety standard violations resulting in buildings collapse in the state. LASBCA said that the agency will use every legal method to stop building collapse in the country and even punish the defaulters as deterrent to future offenders.
Speaking when the Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN) visited him in Ikeja, the LASBCA General Manager, Olalekan Shodeinde said “Whistle blowing is an avenue to give us whatever information on any structure, be it construction or reconstruction, that is structurally defective,”.
He urged engineers and concerned members of the public to call the agency’s toll free lines to give information of deviation from approved permits and approvals and other atrocities on sites capable of jeopardising safety.
Shodeinde listed the agency’s toll free lines as 070050504040 and 07000527222. He appealed to APWEN members to sensitise building professionals against shoddy deals that compromised safety and standard of buildings. “We need floods of information. We need to make professionals to get the force behind materials to avoid safety reduction in construction,” he said. He noted that Lagos, with about two million households, is the only mega city growing horizontally instead of vertically.
According to him, developments in various parts of the state usually preceded governance such that hinterlands would have been built up without requisite building approvals and permits before government would get the information.
He said that the involvement of engineers to expose atrocities in building sites was important for an all-inclusive fight against buildings collapse. He added that builders on sites often shun LASBCA advice and stressed the need for constant presence of professionals on construction sites.
Shodeinde stated that getting building permits and approvals was not expensive, adding that many developers deviated from approved plans to short change government thereby compromising safety.
Earlier, both APWEN National President, Mrs Felicia Agubata, and its state Chairperson, Mrs Laolu Adedapo-Aisida, took turns to share the visions of the association. They said the association has embarked on career mentoring of more females into engineering in tertiary institutions to accelerate Nigeria’s technological advancement. Other members of APWEN delegation included, Mrs Funmi Akingbagbohun, Mrs Edith Alagbe, Mrs Atinuke Wuraola-Owolabi, Mrs Shakira Subair among others.