The Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON) and the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB), Abia chapter, have called for the arrest and imprisonment of any person who claims to be a site engineer.
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The builders made the call on Monday in Umuahia while briefing newsmen on their stand in the reoccurring incidence of building collapse in the state.
In an address, the State Practice Committee Chairman of CORBON, Mr Wisdom Okoro blamed the spate of building collapse on the failure of regulatory authorities to enforce the law.
Okoro said that the law and the code establishing the building profession says that only the builder stays on the site to handle the building production processes.
The CORBON chairman said that it was a misnomer for anybody to claim that he is a site engineer.
“Anybody who is on site and says he is a site engineer is a fake person, he doesn’t have the authority to do building works.
“The building works according to the statutes, codes and regulations that established the building profession, is that of a builder, not a shared responsibility, ” Okoro said.
According to him, all other professionals in engineering come, inspect and supervise the aspect of the work that is left for them, but they are not the managers of the project.
“What we are saying is that any person who claims to be the engineer on site should be arrested and imprisoned, ” he insisted.
Corroborating, the State Chairman of NIOB, Mr Chinedu Nwanosike said that the incessant building collapse in the state was as a result of negligence by both the authorities and developers.
He maintained that what qualified someone as a builder is the person’s academic training and a licence to practice.
Nwanosike said: “The challenge is that those in authority neglect the right people for the job and give it to quacks.
“If you count say 100 buildings around, you will find out that those handled by trained builders are not up to 10 per cent.”
He urged the Abia government to implement the building code that was passed since 2006.
“Arrest quacks and allow professionals to come in, then building collapse will become a thing of the past, ” he said
There has been spate of building collapse in the state, including the recent ones in Umuahia and Aba. (NAN)
