Demands taskforce on urban blight
Estate Surveyor and Valuer Mr. Banjo Adeleke has urged the federal government to create a joint taskforce on the inspection of public buildings to curb the incidence of dilapidated buildings in the country.
Adeleke who made the call while reacting to the five-year mandatory public building renovation policy by the federal government maintained that it is not workable.
Speaking with Viewpoint Housing News in Abuja, Adeleke said, “There should be a taskforce of building inspectors comprising of experts from civil engineering, plumbing, carpentry and survey that will go from one public building to another to check and submit report on the state of the building in every three months.”
He added, “The plan by the federal government to subject all public buildings for mandatory renovation is not realistic because of the poor maintenance culture by Nigerians.
“We don’t have to wait until five years to renovate buildings. What government needs to do is to revamp its maintenance culture as it was done in those days of compulsory sanitation. Inspectors go from house to house to ensure that every household was clean.”
He said if mandatory day to day maintenance culture is enforced by the government, overhaul of buildings will not be necessary.
A situation where a public house has a dedicated plumper, carpenter and other construction workers mandated to ensure that problems in the building are fixed immediately, we will not be here talking about dilapidated buildings in Nigeria, Adeleke observed.
He explained, “It must be noted that renovation has to do with the outer repairs of a building like painting while rehabilitation is the total overhaul of a building so government needs to understand these things.
“Maintenance has to do with the day to day running of the building. For instance, if you go to the federal secretariat in Abuja, you will discover that the lifts are not working but in a situation where the problem is tackled immediately so we don’t need to wait for five years to renovate buildings.
According to him, “There is need to bring back enforcement of house to house sanitation to help check the challenges of dilapidated buildings in the country.
“By so doing we will not wait for five years to renovate public buildings and this method will also help in reducing the cost of maintenance.
“If you have a building project that cost you N200 million not maintained periodically, say at interval of three months, you might end up spending more than that amount to maintain the building after 10 years. So there should be a revamp of maintenance culture in the country.”
He said most developed countries of the world have employed the taskforce and it has worked perfectly.
He urged the government to be realistic in making concerted effort to stop quackery in the housing and construction industry.
He lamented the prevalence of unprofessional consultancy services that have resulted in use of inferior materials leading to fast decay of buildings.
“Unprofessionalism has taken advantage of the pervasive ignorance of the populace about the profession and quacks now corner jobs that are meant for the real consultants,” the estate valuer stated.
He noted that government offices are usually faced with premature but steady and rapid deterioration, decay and dilapidation due to lack of maintenance, misuse and, in some cases, poor quality infrastructure.
Viewpoint Housing News recalls that the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola recently declared that all public buildings across the country would be subjected to mandatory maintenance checks.
