Bricklayers Identify Factors Causing Incessant Building Collapse In Nigeria

The association which is an umbrella body of artisans in bricklaying profession also listed timidity of some bricklayers as well as greed among owners of building structures as some of the reasons for building collapse.

The artisans expressed these views at the annual national conference of the association held in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital, North Central Nigeria.

The annual national conference, themed, ‘Let’s Eradicate Building Collapse in Nigeria’, had delegates from Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti, and Kwara states.

The state chairmen of the Nigeria bricklaying association from Kwara, Lagos and Ogun states, Alhaji Abdulraheem Ayenigba, Mr. Oyebamiji Dauda, Otunba Adeniyi Daniel, respectively, in separate interviews, emphasized the need for practical knowledge and acumen among other experts in the building profession.

The association’s chairmen who described bricklayers as group of artisans that bring out drawings of other building professionals into physical structures, said that building collapse was not rampant in structures made by the artisans in the olden days as against what is the case nowadays.

“Many building consultants are not grounded in building profession. Many of them are after their pay. For instance, some expatriates patronized by governments and wealthy individuals in the country do not have knowledge about our soil structures or land texture. There are different building foundations for different land or soil types. Versatile bricklayers or building engineers need to know about all this” they added.

According to them, there are many quacks among bricklayers too, while many lack integrity.

“They’re the bad eggs. That’s one of the reasons we have this association and we plan to make it spread across the country. We train some people who would leave after about six months of working as labourers. These people then go about getting building contracts without adequate expertise. In this situation, building collapse could happen in their jobs” they declared.

They also disclosed that a bricklayer should be bold and confident in his chosen vocation and not be timid while dealing with owners of building structures, especially during the construction process lamenting that some greedy people would want bricklayers to add additional floor(s) to building structure against what is obtained in the drawing thereby leading to building collapse.

They therefore called on the government to accord the association due recognition and support, saying that they should be carried along in the scheme of things for more collaboration and assistance explaining that the association has qualified members that they organiser refresher training for on a regular basis.