October 6, (THEWILL) – Mr James Iniama, a renowned Estate Surveyor, Valuer and Chief Executive Officer of James Iniama Consult, spoke extensively on the possible cause of the recent building collapse in Uyo, steps to prevent future occurrences and the need to bring professional negligence to book if found.
He spoke with UDEME UTIP in Uyo
Excerpts: How do you view the disaster that struck the state on Saturday, where a three-story building collapsed, leaving some casualties?
That Saturday, it was a very sad day for us, sad in the sense that we lost lives and properties. It was sad in the sense that all of that was very avoidable. l really do sympathise with families who lost their loved ones in the course of the collapse of that building at Iman street in Uyo. It is very sad indeed because all that incident was very much avoidable. And it goes to speak of our lawlessness, it goes to speak of our unprofessionalism, it goes to speak of our disrespect for competence.
It was very sad indeed because you wouldn’t have expected a property like that to collapse. The first thing that comes to my mind is sympathy for the victims and their families, the investor of that property. I’m told it was intended to be a commercial property by an Akwa Ibom son who lives outside the country. I hold a philosophy that if we who come from this state do not invest in the development of the state, then this state cannot be developed.
We all should put our effort and resources together to ensure that this state is developed. So it really broke my heart when I heard the news. I begin to bring before us the need to ensure we all have clearly written down regulatory standards for the development of our communities.
When I talk about communities, I am talking about urban and rural communities in Akwa Ibom State. We should have properly written out building standards and regulations.
Before a building project is initiated, there should be a careful choice of the site where the development is to be undertaken. We take for granted that because we are not in a water-logged environment, the subsoil of every square millimetre of land in the state is suitable for development. But that is absolutely wrong. In some of our neighbourhoods, we are living in midst of made-up soil, you know, neighbourhoods that were dedicated to the disposal of refuse. And so when you have made-up soil, You leave the impression that you have a properly established land where you can build, but that is wrong.
And if you cannot determine by merely looking at the surface of the land, what type of land It is, then it begins to invite our attention to the need to carry out proper soil surveys that will determine the type of soil, the quality of the soil and the low bearing capacity of the soil. And it will also tell us what type of building will be suitable for the soil, and what foundation will be adequate for the soil.
So where does this take us to? It Immediately takes us back to the regulatory agency that should supervise and regulate the use and development of land in Uyo Capital City Development Authority and I want to position this within the territory of the Immediate incident. You see, that land lies within Uyo Capital City Development Authority, so there are questions you should ask…that development I’m told was a proposed hotel and within that neighbourhood, what’s the approved Land use? Is that neighbourhood approved for commercial development? Is it a residential neighbourhood? Is it a mixed-use neighbourhood? That is the first thing.
Professionally, what can you say about the size of the land, compared to the nature of the building that was intended?
As a Professional Estate surveyor and valuer, I can tell you that the size of the land that I saw is not adequate for the type of building we are told is intended for that site, so why was it approved? It is because supervisory agencies and regulatory agencies have prefered that there will be a discriminatory approval of land use types.
So we shouldn’t have double standards when we are engaged in the control of the use of regulated land uses. We must not have double standards, that is what I find in this city for those of us who are not known to be connected to authority. We even won’t agree that if we do not observe standards but some people who have strong relationships with authority, they are given privileges to do as they wouldn’t In actual situations.
As I know, that is predominantly a residential neighbourhood. So why are you contemplating a four-storey development? Why should a four-storey development be approved? And in the first instance, was it approved at all? Was there a Land Survey at all?
For a commercial property such as that, one would have expected that there would have been an environmental impact assessment that will take all preliminary issues into consideration before the development of any type is approved particularly, a commercial property.
But to think of a high-rise building in a predominantly residential neighbourhood, it means the neighbours within the location of that property have lost their privacy totally. So what is regulation to me? Some of the things that we overlook have come back to haunt us, they come back to put us in a position where we lose lives and I am particularly mindful of the lives of every indigene of Akwa Ibom state and every resident of the state, I am mindful of them. So that incident was totally avoidable.
Another thing to look at is the quality of the development. What kind of foundation was approved for that development? And if the foundation was approved, did the developer or contractor abide by the approved standards, otherwise, a property would not collapse from top in such a manner.
It just Collapses from top to bottom. And if You don’t find the concrete members sticking to reinforcement rods anymore, they just disintegrate, it is again to tell you that there was a large compromise in the quality and standard of materials.
For me, It was absolutely avoidable. Look at the size of reinforcement rods that were used for a proposed hotel property that is to be under high-tensity traffic at all times. You expect Parties to take place there, you expect receptions to take place there, you will expect dinner to take place there, you will expect human traffic, probably a hundred, two hundred or a thousand in one time.
So it is a very disturbing incident that tells of a violation of the basic standards in construction. The time has come when all of us need to begin to be disciplined in the use of land and resources in the state. We cannot Increase the land area in the state.
Even if we had to engage in reclamation, in dredging, there is just a limit to which we can increase the land use, and the land area of this state. So it is very regrettable and I’m pleased that we have heard that the government say, has set up a Commission of Enquiry with the Nigerian Society of Engineers.
They have already set up already professional Committee to investigate but I just want to wish that beyond investigation, people will be brought to book. We should begin to be held accountable for negligence. Professional negligence is a liability.
We should be held accountable for every professional negligence. So the contractor, if there was an Engineer if there was an Architect that did the design, but let’s assume also that they were not professionals. Whosoever they were needed to be held accountable.
That will be a way of discouraging deterrents. But having said that, I think it is now a call to duty for staff and officers of Uyo Capital City Development Authority, It is a call also to ensure that that agency employs proper professionals in every professional area that is engaged in the built environment.
The estate surveyors and valuers, town Planners, Architects, quantity surveyors and civil engineers, structural engineers, mechanical engineers, and electrical engineers. All of those professionals that should be involved in the activity of the built environment should be employed in that agency and make sure they give that agency the capacity to discharge Professional duties. It is also a wake-up call for them to ensure that there is regular monitoring of approved construction projects.
There is stage monitoring from where the site is to be set out. There must be approval to the point of the TPC. At any stage, materials must be Inspected and tested. We cannot keep losing lives and properties. We cannot keep throwing away our investments. I am a private person,
I have value for every kobo I invest and I imagine our brother who took the Initiative to invest in that hotel business. In the choice of site for projects, we must be deliberate. If a site is not suitable for a two-storey building, please don’t approve it for two storeys. If it is suitable for a bungalow, that is the limit to which approval should be given.
Even if you get to Ewet Housing Estate today, conceptually, Ewet Housing Estate was to be purely a residential neighbourhood. But today, about 50% of that estate is a hotel neighbourhood. How can you explain it.? We must learn to maximise the proper use of land in Akwa Ibom State.
The Issue of Insurance for the project size. There is a law that a developer should have insurance but it seems not implemented or not in practice in Nigeria, what is your take on this sir?
What is hindering us is that we are Nigerians. As you see, there is a law, but every law we have in the country is observed in the bridge. There are laws. The first thing is, and that is not an excuse, most of us are ignorant of the existence of the law. But that is not an excuse. But on the other side, there should be the will on the side of the supervisory government agency to enforce the law. So that is what makes the difference.
For me, if a man builds in contravention of the building regulation, straight away he bridges the law. So he takes responsibility for whatever happens, to his risk. You know my friend was involved, we were consulting the federal government of Nigeria when the Lagos-Ibadan expressway was conceived and at that time as well, we know that Babatunde Fashola, now minister of works, was governor of Lagos state.
He was very familiar with the situation in Lagos, and when he became Minister, he said to property owners of Lagos, “if your building plan doesn’t exist and was not approved, your development is illegal and will not contemplate a claim. We need to begin to be hard and forceful on enforcement.
The other thing that you would find out that happens and is very worrisome, is the government acquiring a corridor of way. The government pays compensation to claimants or property owners. The government now comes and clears the corridor, within the limit of the road development the government wants at that time.
And sometimes a substantial part of their acquired corridor is retained. Before clearing finishes, you discover land owners, property owners, who had otherwise been paid compensation come back to the corridor and rebuild. And when the government says, we want to develop again, these people come around and insist on compensation, I hold the view that if the government is undertaking a development, the law demands that the corridor should be acquired.
So that acquisition process should follow the law, and how does it follow the Law? The law tells us that the Akwa Ibom state government is the acquiring authority, the governor of the state. But it now vests the power. on the Chief, Lands officer to add in that regard.
So there should be a proper survey of the Corridor, and coordination should be established. Somehow the beacon stones that cannot be removed or destroyed should also be established even if they are destroyed or removed as long as that corridor has been surveyed and gazetted as acquired, it remains government property. In the next fifty years, hundred years it will come back to that corridor that my own brother or father had come back to build. We would simply take out that development without payment of compensation. That is one leg to it.
The other side to it is – you see development is not controlled. In most of the Uyo Capital City Development Authority, that is why I said, it is a wake-up call that they should now begin to insist on compliance with standards. Are you building and observing the building line? What is the requirement from the centre of the road to the commencement of your development? I live in Abuja. The building line specified for Abuja is six meters from the centre of the road. Whatever It is, you can’t have less than that. So we should specify these things as far as Uyo Capital City Development Authority territory land area is concerned.
The other thing is, I have lived in the emphasis that we need to begin to make our rural communities liveable and one way we want to make our rural communities liveable is to ensure that development is controlled. So I don’t know if your village falls within the Uyo Capital City Development Authority or if it’s outside the Uyo Capital City Development Authority should be controlled. Whether it is within it or not, it lies in Ibesikpo Asutan local government area. So the planning authority in Ibesikpo Asutan local government authority should now take a planning responsibility to ensure that there is development controlled according to the standard that it takes.
Concerning the issue a few weeks ago, there were people who protested that compensation should be paid before the reconstruction and the rehabilitation of the Calabar Itu road, is it the state or federal government that should pay such compensation?
There shouldn’t be a spate, unfortunately, I’m very aware of this. A year or two years ago, the minister of works took a memo to the federal executive Council of Nigeria and demanded approval that the state government be required to pay compensation to property owners, claimants and whatsoever in a project corridor to be undertaken by the federal government and federal executive council approved.
The Minister of works is relying on that approval. But you see, that approval cannot override the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria The constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria vests all right and interests on land on the governors of the respective state in Nigeria within the territories of those states. So the governor of the state is the acquiring authority but that law does not make the governor primarily liable for the acquisition and payment of compensation for land that is required by the federal government for development.
The situation we have on Calabar Itu road is just unfortunate in the sense that that road is critical to the economic life of this country. It is critical to human traffic and that is important. So the federal government had conceived, running towards the election of 2019 that Calabar Itu road should be expanded, they called it dualization and started work. Interestingly compensation was paid for part of that road.
When the federal executive council order came, the minister of works said No, they can’t pay. But you can’t enforce it, the federal government can only negotiate with the State but it will be at the discretion of the state based on discussed and agreed terms of what should be done with compensation.
So that is the position I hold and I speak on authority as a professional. Yes, I come from Itu local government and I read on the Senator’s social media that Senator Ita Enang had a parley with stakeholders of Itu and I heard he said the federal government would pay Compensation.
Perhaps he knows better than I do, Perhaps there are some discussions that are going on that would ensure that the federal government pays compensation and I would be glad about what the federal government does.
Because that is a very important road for us. So that is the position, you know the territory of Akwa Ibom state extends to Okpokong River. And recently we have been hearing that officers from the federal government that should exercise official authority in their jobs within the territory of Cross River have been coming to hold meetings with our chiefs and clan heads, paramount rulers and probably time to caution them to limit their supervisory powers to the territory of Cross River State.
They shouldn’t come beyond Okpokong River to give instructions on the issue of the federal government that lies in Akwa Ibom State. We have the federal ministry of works in Uyo, they should do that for us.
Attached: pics of Mr. James Iniama
About the Author
