Naomi Gabriel —

The Chairman of the Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON), DrSamson Opaluwah has said that despite efforts by stakeholders in the built industry, there should be a greater measure for the enforcement of the law to put an end to the re-occurring building collapse incidents in the country.

According to Nigerian Daily Trust, the CORBON Chief added that building collapse cases are as a result of negligence of those involved in construction.

“We should enforce the laws that we have, he said.

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“When buildings collapse, let those responsible take immediate punitive measures against anyone that has contravened any existing law. There are laws governing what we do on the construction site.

“The fact is; anytime a building collapses, someone is responsible and that someone should be held accountable. If a group of people are responsible, they should be held accountable, and until there’s punishment we will not be afraid to do the wrong things.

The CORBON Chairman also disclosed that the impact the new naira redesign policy has had on the construction industry is huge.

“It is huge in the sense that the lower cadre of the construction industry operatives are paid with cash, and when there is no cash, it becomes very difficult to engage in trade with them, he said.

“And those of them who are in the majority, who do get engaged on what is called daily pay, they are even worse off. When there is no cash they cannot be paid, and when they are not paid because their income is on a daily basis, they cannot feed their families, and even themselves.

So, it has impacted very negatively. I am also aware of the fact that the intention of the government is germane, so it should be supported. But I also believe that the policy implementation has not been the best.

But as a council, we have what is called Labour Market Information System (LMIS) on which we onboard artisans; which artisans are engaged and their payments made online into their accounts.

“We have already started moving ahead, tapping into the current policy thrust of the government to ensure that the industry does not suffer hiccups.

“We should make sure that we engage people who are qualified. That is what CORBON has done and we intend to expand it in the coming months”.