Nigeria’s 60th independence: Institute to assess conditions of buildings

The Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) is set to embark on an examination of some buildings constructed at the time of the country’s independence about 60 years ago.

A statement by the president of the institute, Builder Kunle Awobodu, said they would be undertaking a survey of the conditions of some selected buildings in commemoration of Nigeria’s 60th independence anniversary.

“The output of the survey will be useful to policymakers, researchers, industry practitioners and members of the public interested in quality construction,” he said.

Awobodu explained that the condition survey was driven by the need to relate the lifespan of the examined buildings to the theoretical lifespan of buildings, especially the propounded approximately 60-year lifespan.

“Another goal is to be able to relate the performance of those buildings to recently constructed ones or ones constructed much later, after Nigeria’s independence,” he added.

The president further said the building condition survey would reveal the state of the buildings with respect to the components, functionality, performance and other parameters and would guide public discourse, challenges and probe current actions and guide in future projections.

“The condition survey is the NIOB’s contribution to the debate and search for standard and enduring construction,” Awobodu stressed.

He, therefore, requested that members of the public give information to professional builders around them on such buildings for further investigation.

“Stakeholders that are interested in history, and quality building construction will find the results of the condition survey rich and informative. It could eventually lead to the publication of a compendium on Nigeria’s pre-independence building construction efforts,” he stated.