EVALUATION AND IMPACT OF INCESSANT RESIDENTIAL BUILDING COLLAPSE IN LAGOS METROPOLIS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of Study

The place and priority of buildings to man’s existence and survival as he lives and carries out his activities within them is important. Despite this fact, maintenance of the existing housing stock in habitable condition still remains a great problem to be solved in Nigeria among other countries in the World, (Olagunju, 2011). Buildings, either as temporary, permanent or monumental structures needs to be properly planned, designed, constructed and maintained to obtain the desired satisfaction, comfort and safety. The desired satisfaction, comfort and safety tend to be threatened when the building failed to perform any of its principal functions of satisfaction, safety and stability. Building failure may be as a result of a total or partial failure of one or more components of a building structure, though a common phenomenon all over the world is more rampant and devastating in the developing countries. The Rana Plaza tragedy that occured on 24 April, 2013 where an eight-story garment factory collapsed in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh will quickly come to mind. The building’s fall which killed nearly1, 200 people and injured thousands of others was not caused by an earthquake or a terrorist attack, but rather by poor construction and a lack of oversight. The frequent rate of building collapse in Nigeria in the past few years and recently had become very worrisome mostly in Lagos state, this have led to the lost of many lives and properties. A visit to the collapsed scenes were as revealing as they were pathetic and one could not but wonder why such contraption could have been allowed to stand or to what extent people can go to cut corners at the expense of respect for safety and respect for lives. Unfortunately, there are still a number of buildings of similar circumstances dotting the skyline of many cities in Nigeria. That building collapse incidence are still regularly occurring despite increasing dffiusion of engineering knowledge over the years calls for some re-examination of development in building production and control process (Dimuna, 2010). Development and construction of property is very necessary to every individual in life, as such, many individuals involve themselves in construction of property for either personal uses or for investment purposes. In Lagos State, every investor will like to acquire a property due to the rapid economic development and nature of investment, while some are of prestige. No investor or property owner will be happy to see his/her building collapse. Therefore, the need to follow the required due process before embarking on development of property is important.