The Lagos State government has called for the support of building professionals as it embarks on aggressive enforcement against quackery in construction to eradicate building collapse in the state.
Mr Olufunsho Elulade, General Manager (GM), Lagos State Materials Testing Laboratory (LSMTL), made the appeal at its inaugural stakeholders’ conference in Lagos on Tuesday.
The conference was themed: ‘Construction, Material Quality Control and Assurance in Lagos State.’
Elulade identified the use of substandard building materials and lack of adherence to quality assurance standards as the major causes of building collapse in the state.
According to him, to actualise the state’s zero tolerance to building collapse vision, the agency will begin an immediate standard enforcement in the building construction value chain to ensure the use of right materials.
“We are, hereby, using this medium to state the terms of operations with all our stakeholders across the state; we want to partner with you to move the state forward in order to have safer Lagos for the benefit of all,” he said.
He stressed the need to eliminate the menace of quackery, substandard materials and corruption in the construction sector.
The GM listed services offered by the laboratory to include soil tests, water quality assessment, calibration, destructive and none destructive tests, among others.
He also listed the importance of the regulatory functions of the agency, while enumerating the core values of LSMTL upheld in all its districts in the five divisions of the state.
Elulade who unveiled a new logo said it was a strategy to eliminate quacks and private laboratories using the agency’s old logo to impersonate its operations and mislead the public.
Prof. Anthony Kila, Director, Centre for International and Advanced Studies, who gave the keynote address at the event, called on government to make realistic policies.
Kila stressed the need for a template for all professionals to operate, while stressing the need to try to understand why people breach construction standards.
He, however, called on the professionals and forthright practitioners to watch out for bad eggs and expose them as a way to eliminate quackery and substandard construction.
He urged the Lagos state government to sustain awareness campaigns and engagements of critical stakeholders to avert the pains of building collapse, which he named as distress, disaster, disappointment and death.
Mr Olusesanayo Philip, Public Relations Officer, Nigerian Institute of Builders (NIOB), Lagos Branch said that the institute would sustain its public sensitisation campaign.
Philip said the institute was also partnering LSMTL to sensitise the public on the need to engage professional builders to tame the monster of building collapse in Nigeria.
Heads of various agencies of the state government also took turn to proffer solutions to the issues of quackery, building collapse and quality material standards assurance.
