The Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON) says it will embark on urgent monitoring and evaluation of building projects nationwide to tackle building collapses and quackery in the sector.

Dr Peter Kuroshi, CORBON, Registrar, who made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja, said that there was a developed template on ground to aid the monitoring teams nationwide.

“We have a template on ground which we have developed to enable CORBON teams in different locations within the country, including state level to go round project sites.

“The team will identify those persons that are carrying out project delivery illegally, isolate them and present them for prosecution.

“We need to go out and prevent those who are not licensed from operating.

“We have quite number of graduates to be licensed, once they are licensed, it will give room for adequate manpower.”

Kuroshi noted that the council was focused on tackling quackery and building collapse by firstly registering, certifying and licensing builders.

According to him, whoever that does not have CORBON license as far as we are concerned is a quack.

He said that CORBON in collaboration with other concerned stakeholders have been advocating for enabling law to prosecute quacks from the National Building Code.

He explained that the code has been in existence since 2006 and essentially sets minimum standard for planning, design and construction but has no provision for prosecution of defaulters and those who infringe on the provisions.

“That is why it is necessary to have an enabling law,’’ he noted.

He explained that in the built environment, builders were referred to as Building Construction Managers, adding that they were specific professionals responsible for building project delivery.

The registrar noted that the builders always relied on the inputs from other professions, design inputs from the Architects and Engineers.

He further said that the builders also relied on planning and cost information from the Surveyors and Quantity Surveyors respectively and other necessary information to facilitate effective project execution.

“Builders do not only construct building from the scratch but they also maintain existing buildings,’’ he added.

Kuroshi explained that apart from ensuring that builders receive the right training, CORBON also has certain standards in place which every builder was expected to comply with while in building production.

According to him, the standards are in line with the project health and safety construction programme and the methodology which will enable the builders to do so in a systematic way.

“Essentially, once these standards are observed, the basic objective of building project will be achieved.

On substandard building materials, he said that though the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) was responsible for regulating standard and quality materials but CORBON would assist by reporting incidences or cases of substandard building materials.

NAN reports that in order to boost professionalism and avoid building collapse and quackery, CORBON recently inducted 96 newly registered builders.(NAN)

– July 9, 2018 @ 08:45 GMT |