To revitalise the industry, the Lagos State government has kick-started a new scheme designed to speed up the building approval process, curb collapses and enhance service delivery in the construction sector.
The initiatives, known as the Certified Accreditor Programme and Certificate of Structural Integrity Programme, will involve tested and trusted private professionals in the regulatory process of the state’s building industry.
Under the scheme, the government would partner a certified accreditor/consulting firm or a consortium of registered consultants made up of professionals such as town planner, architects, civil/structural engineers, mechanical engineers, registered builder, registered geoscientist and others.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, Oluwole Sotire, who spoke during a stakeholders’ meeting with professionals in the built environment in Lagos, said the government embraced the participatory approach after its engagement with professionals in the built environment.
Sotire expressed confidence that the involvement of private professionals in building approval and regulatory process would open up a new dawn of efficiency and relegate building collapse to the background, while projecting Lagos as a centre of excellence and a trailblazer.
The General Manager, Lagos State Building Control Agency, (LASBCA) Gbolahan Oki, urged professionals to embrace the scheme, as a collaborative measure to broaden participation and protect the sanctity of the sector.
Oki added that both professionals and the entire state had a lot to gain from taking ownership of the initiatives, among which is re-instilling confidence in the system and enhancing the sustainability of the environment.
He said the agency has constantly introduced several initiatives and engaged stakeholders in tracking the menace of building collapse, preventing needless loss of life and property.
The general manager emphasised the need for professionals to unlearn and embrace positive changes that are safe, secured for now and the future.
In his presentation, former Senior Special Assistant to the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Physical Planning, Dokun Roberts, explained that the Certified Accreditors will work with the ministry and agencies, including Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority, (LASPPPA) and LASBCA to carry out screening of technical drawings, stage certification and random monitoring of projects.
Roberts said: “The programme would enable the government to engage private sector professionals as stakeholders in regulating the building industry.The accreditors are classified into grades one to three.
“For grade one, all professionals should have at least 15 years of practical experience and one team member must have experience in the area of specialisation to be deployed, while Grade two officers will work on buildings of any number of floors and must have at least 15 years of experience.
Grade three will work on buildings up to 10 floors and professionals must have at least 10 years of experience, while grade four officials will work on buildings up to five floors and must have at least five years of experience.”
