The Council of Nigerian Mining Engineers and Geoscientists (COMEG) and the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society (NMGS) have called on the Lagos State government to include mining and geosciences professionals in the independent panel it constituted to investigate the tragic collapse of a twenty-one-storey building construction on Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, with aim of forestalling reoccurrence.
COMEG is the regulatory agency of the Federal Government that serves as the governing body for all professionals and firms in the Geosciences, Mining Engineering and Metallurgy in the country, and was established through the ACT No. 40 of 1990 while NMGS is the professional body of all Geologists and Mining Engineers in the country.
They made the call in a statement, titled “Gerrard Road Building Collapse: Avoidable Mishap,” a copy of which was made available to our correspondent in Abuja on Wednesday.
The statement, which was jointly signed by the Registrar of COMEG, Professor Zacheus Opafunso and the President of the NMGS, Surveyor Alabo Charles described the Gerrard Road Building Collapse as an “avoidable mishap,” while expressing their condolence to the families of those who lost their lives in the tragic collapse.
They applauded the swift response of the State Government at rescue and investigation into the cause of the disaster, saying that it is commendable as no building is worth the loss of a single life.
COMEG and NMGS rated Lagos State high as a city, stating that “as one of the mega cities in the world, it is expected to be replete with superstructures,” but lamented that reports of structural collapse of a meagre twenty-one-storey structure sends a wrong signal to investors.
The statement declared NMGS and COMEG as professional body and regulatory agency of government respectively, who are the first point of call for any construction project as the geotechnical properties of soils ultimately determines the type of foundation and structures that can be safely placed on any soil.
“As stakeholders in the construction industry, COMEG and NMGS are saddened by the recurrent incidents of building collapse in Nigeria,” the statement said.
While they commend the prompt setup of the independent panel by the Lagos state government, they advised that COMEG and NMGS professionals should be included on the panel, noting that “the success of any construction project is dependent on the underlying foundation soil,” of which COMEG and NMGS host the experts.
The Federal Government Regulatory Agency and the Mining and Geosciences Professionals noted that “soils have a myriad of dynamics which could be at play and affect substructures even when foundation type might be right such as seismicity, liquefaction,” stating that the dynamics are best studied and investigated by geologists.
They said in the advent of building collapse, “studies of the subsurface in relation to the phenomenon is of importance and these falls strictly in the purview of geologists.”
They appealed to relevant stakeholders and the general public to heed the regulation of the COMEG and relevance of NMGS to civil constructions, while expressing good faith that the lessons learnt from the tragic exercise would assist government to formulate a better response to building development and ensure that civil projects serve their full design life in continuous safety.
