A Chief Lecturer at department of Civil Engineering, Federal Polytechnic Ado-Ekiti, Engr Joseph Adams has attributed the failures of government buildings and roads in Nigeria to poor supervision and executive interference.
Engr. Joseph Adams who is also a practising Civil Engineer at China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) stated this in the paper delivered at 4th Annual Public Lecture of Physical Planning Directorate, Federal Polytechnic Ile-Oluji with the theme ''Effective Quality Control: The Solution To Building and Roads failures in Nigeria'' on Tuesday.
He added that use of Substandard building/construction materials, conversion of plans, poor workmanship, lack of maintenance, corruption and highhandedness of some contractors also contributed to failures of government owned buildings and roads nationwide.
''Corruption is one major enemy to the practice of effective quality control. This comes about when the personnel saddled with the responsibility to supervise and ensure good quality control receive bribes and turn a blind eye to whatever the contractor is doing. Usually, such bribes prevent the supervisor from condemning poor work or prevent the quality control officer from reporting accurate results even when tests are conducted.
This results in impunity on the part of the Contractor and in most cases he takes over total control of all affairs on site and does whatever he pleases including the use of whatever material he wishes. He is able to alter material specifications such as use of Natural (bush) gravel instead of granites, natural sand instead of stone dust, reduce grades of concrete, thickness of pavement layers etc.'' Adams explained.
He therefore called on government to start sanctioning erring contractors and professionals to avoid
litigations, waste of precious time, increased cost of maintenance of the infrastructure, loss of revenue and lives due to building and road failure.
The COREN certified Engineer therefore called on tertiary institutions to be enforcers of specifications and codes for construction and take the campaign to the streets, saying charity must begin at home.
''The question therefore is how compliant are the various institutions of higher learning with the practice of effective quality control in the construction of buildings and roads within the various campuses?
Granted that there may not have been reported cases of building collapse in the tertiary institutions within the country so far, however there are cases of failed buildings and roads all over the campuses. Buildings with visible structural cracks, sagged and leaking roofs, sagged floor slabs with cracks in some cases, collapsed ceilings etc. are commonplace in most of Nigeria institutions.''
He also recommended the use of Well Trained Personnel and partnership with
Professional bodies like COREN, CORBON, NIQS and others in the training of staff through regular training workshops and seminars.
Earlier, the Director of Physical Planning; Federal Polytechnic Ile-Oluji, Mr Oyetunde Oyelola the Public Lecture will create a forum for information exchange to ventilate the minds of the audience towards the development in the construction industry and showcase the role and importance of the Directorate of Physical Planning as an
integral organ in the development of tertiary institutions.
Oyetunde Oyelola thanked the Rector, Prof Emmanuel Fasakin for creating enabling environment for implementation of quality infrastructures at the institutions.
''It is my hope that this lecture and the subsequent editions will continue to lead to the
advancement of this institution as we progress in our voyage in lifting our nation Nigeria to
greater heights.'' The director added.
Highlight of the event was the presentation of award of excellence to Sandtex Paints and Denki
Wire and Cables for quality of their
products.
The Directorate of Physical Planning as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility donated 10 Park benches to Federal Polytechnic Ile oluji.
Top management and Staff of Physical Planning Directorates of neighbouring higher institutions the Provost of Adeyemi, College of Education Dr. Samuel Akintunde attended the event held at Permanent site of the Polytechnic
.jpg)
0 Comments