Naomi Gabriel —
The Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON) has inaugurated its national Project Evaluation and Monitoring Unit (PEMU) in Lagos. This is to ensure safety in the built sector, as earlier revealed by Bldr. Mrs, Victoria Akinola, with Bldr. Florence Akinyoade in an interview with Viewpoint Housing News last week in Abuja, the Nigerian capital.
The unit is made up of registered builders who will be supported by relevant security agencies during the conduct of their lawful duties and is domiciled in all the 36 states under the supervision of CORBON.
The launch of the unit featured presentations of projects monitoring kits to officials across the six geo-political zones and commissioning of two vehicles for PEMU operations.
Functions of the unit will include visits to project sites and monitoring compliance with the established regulations on building construction and management in accordance with the National Building Code (NBC), as well as laws governing the practice of the professions and relevant planning and development laws of the state governments.
Chairman of CORBON, Samson Opaluwah said that officials must adhere strictly with the directive and operational guidelines of CORBON, adding that the unit shall also monitor training and apprenticeship exposure of learners in the various CORBON skills development programmes.
Opaluwah said PEMU would ensure professionalism on the nation’s building sites and called for the cooperation of all, as well as sundry to lift the nation to the next level in building projects management and delivery.
According to him, the unit would submit reports of findings to the relevant regulatory enforcement agencies of the states and CORBON for necessary action.
“The capacity of the government to manage construction and development projects efficiently comes under close scrutiny by local and international observers. As builders and experts in building and construction management, it behooves on us to take urgent and decisive steps to save our nation from the recurrent loss of lives, investment and negative publicity due to the incessant incidence of building collapse”, he said.
To professionalise building construction and management, he said, CORBON had rolled out building construction management tools known as the registered builders’ construction documents, which consist of construction programme, construction methodology and plant / equipment scheduling, project health and safety plan, as well as quality management plan.
“These tools of project delivery are mandatorily required for the successful delivery of buildings by all registered builders practicing in Nigeria. We call on all states to ensure that buildings are approved for construction only when these mandatory documents are presented,” Opaluwah said.
On efforts to boost the built sector, he said CORBON has accredited building and building technology courses in 27 universities and polytechnics, established sector skills council on construction to meet the skills and technology requirements of the construction industry, training and certification of master craftsmen and artisans in the construction trades.
