By Jude Atupulazi
A member of the panel investigating the collapse of buildings in Anambra State, Prof, Akaolisa Ezeagu, has commended what he describes as the sterling performance of the Commissioner for Housing in the state, Hon. Pauly Onyeka, which he described as fascinating to many professionals in the industry.
Professor Ezeagu made the commendation when the Commissioner, Onyeka, appeared before the panel to offer some insightful suggestions towards finding a lasting solution to incessant building collapse in the area.
Anambra State Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, in June, 2024, it will be recalled, approved the constitution of a panel of inquiry to investigate the cause of the reoccurring collapse of buildings in the state following the collapse of a building housing lock-up shops at Odu Igbo, Ochanja, and the Centenary Building at Dennis Memorial Grammar School (DMGS), Onitsha.
Commenting on his presentation, Prof Ezeagu, who is the Head of Department Civil Engineering, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, and Chairman, Institute of Structural Engineers, Anambra State Chapter, confessed that the quality performance of Hon Onyeka, who, he said, professionally combined Pharmacy with Law, was proof to the fact that a non-professional could successfully lead the ministry.
Ezeagu recalled, ‘When the Commissioner was appointed to the Ministry of Housing, those of us who were professionals were challenging the appointment because of the Commissioner’s Law and Pharmacy backgrounds. But today, he is performing better than the so-called professionals who come with their own consultants and contractors they had been working with and do not give room for other professionals in the ministry.
‘The Commissioner has proved the critics wrong as he presented himself as a professional. He knows the industry and is doing well in the discharge of his duty. Everything is going well in the ministry.’
The Commissioner had earlier made three critical suggestions to the panel towards ending incidents of building collapse in the state. He said, ‘I’m appearing here as a friend of the panel to help it to achieve its purpose. I will start with development control. Every building construction starts with certification/approval. For me the approval must be approval stricto senso and not any interim approval.
‘If it’s in Awka, the approval is by Awka Capital Territory Development Authority, while outside Awka, it will be from Anambra State Physical Planning Board. This certification must have to do with not just the architectural and structural designs because we see that when that of the Architect is taken up and looked at and that of the structural Engineer is taken up and looked at, then you may begin to see approvals coming up. That is the practice across the country.
‘But why wouldn’t we talk about the electrical and the mechanical designs? If you neglect them, the house may not collapse but may be gutted by fire because of faulty electrical design, taking many lives. By the time that will happen, the house must have been habited. So, the certification must look at every angle.
‘Around the state are many gas plants sited very close to residential areas. If the development control people work hand in hand with the spatial ones, town planners, those gas plants will never find their way into those places. If there’s an explosion, lives will go. Then, if you ask A, A will call B. if you ask B, B will call C. And that’s why I said that from the outset, we must do whatever we are doing holistically.
‘Apart from that, several other buildings are sited where they are not supposed to be. Then we have noise pollution everywhere. Churches sited in residential places. What help will they render to Ndi Anambra? Yes, it’s something that has to do with our spiritual life, but God did not say we must do that in order to disturb the lives of others,’ Onyeka stated.
The Commissioner also made some advisory comments on building control, which, he noted, must complement whatever was done under the development control.
‘Yes, if we talk about approvals when you must have said okay, the Structural Engineer will come and balance the forces as far as the strength of the building is concerned. Know where the pillars ought to be, know the strength of the columns, know everything. That’s the work of the Structural Engineer.
‘After he must have finished, then the Architect who does a lot of other works, including the aesthetic value and functionality of the house, because if you build any house, at the end of the day, you don’t find it useful, it doesn’t worth it.
‘When they finish all this, there is still something that is very critical for that house to stand. And at that time, the Structural Engineer may have gone. The Architect may also have gone. It might be that the person in charge of this house is a Civil Engineer who may not have the structural knowledge, so to say, or a builder.
‘Now, how do we make sure that that all these things said or produced by the Structural Engineer, Architects and those that did the certifications will be adhered to? This happens at the building stage. Lagos State has a very robust Building Control Agency. We need same in Anambra State.
‘As a way of recommendation, we need a multi-ministerial and multi professional outlook to this. Happily, Mr Governor is always talking about that particular agency now. And we’re already preparing something on that. Very soon, the bill will hit the House of Assembly so that we will have the development agency, the urban regeneration agency and the building control agency,’ Onyeka said.
