Builders to mark day in honour of building collapse victims

The Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) and other critical stakeholders in the built environment will celebrate the maiden edition of the Builders’ Day in honour of those who died in a building collapse in Lagos.

The 13th day of March every year which has been set aside as The Builders’ Day, is to remember the five- storey building that collapsed at No 63, Massey Street on the Lagos Island on March 13, 2019, killing over 20 people, who were mostly school children.

Speaking ahead of the day, the National President of the NIOB, Builder Kunle Awobodu, said the sad and painful incident caused by substandard building construction, which has become a common practice in Nigeria, should be a reminder to stakeholders in the building industry on the fatal implications of non-compliance with appropriate building construction process.

He said the Builders’ Day, which will be an annual event, would feature a nation-wide sensitisation campaign against substandard building construction.

Awobodu called for the support of relevant federal and state government ministries, departments and agencies as well as critical industry stakeholders to realise the objectives set for the day.

He said the NIOB was ready to collaborate with well-meaning institutions and building professional groups in the areas of training of artisans and standardisation of all materials being used in building construction so as to avert the frequent incidents of building collapse across the country, which he said, has claimed the lives of many Nigerians.