Ahmed Dangiwa, the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, said the ministry will now oversee the punishment of those responsible for building collapses throughout the country.
Dangiwa stated this during a meeting to review suggestions from the ministry’s building collapse committee and regulatory bodies in the built environment.
He mentioned that the measure would ensure proper investigation and prosecution of culprits.
He urged the Ministry’s Committee on Building Collapse to develop a checklist of professionals involved in the construction process.
According to him, this was to ease investigation and identify the culprits.
“You must come up with a checklist of things to observe during inspection or assessment of building collapse, and there must be a column to apportion blame to whom is culpable.
“The checklist must ensure quality assurance of the design, concrete quality, and soil tests before the construction,” he said.
According to Dangiwa, the checklist should also cover who designed the building, who certified the designer, who approved the design, and who supervised the construction.
Dangiwa mentioned that this was to identify those culpable to stop the embarrassing tales of building collapses in the country.
“Once there is a building collapse, we should immediately move there with our checklist, identify it, and fill it in.
“Once that is done, you can independently sit down and identify the culprit and support it with tangible evidence that this is the person that hasn’t done the correct thing.
“It should reveal either the design had not been done or if the professional is not certified or development control has not given approval or supervision was not done by a professional and if the building was converted to a different use,” he noted.
Dangiwa stated that once developed, the checklist would be handed to the National Council on Housing for everyone to comprehend and follow along with the implementation.
He requested that the built-environment regulatory authorities transmit their submissions and inputs to the ministry’s Committee on Building Collapse for review and inclusion in the checklist.
In response to the committee’s recommendations, Mr. Samson Opaluwah, Chairman of the Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON), praised the minister for taking the initiative.
Opaluwah stated that the committee made 12 proposals for consideration.
These include the reinstatement of the National Building Code Advisory Committee and a revision of the legislation establishing architects and builders councils.
He said that this would make them more effective in combating quackery.
Other proposals, he said, included implementing punitive measures and punishments for professional negligence, as well as requiring regulatory organisations to interact in the case of a collapse.
“Before, when there was an incident of building collapse, nothing was done to it.
“However, this initiative shows that the Federal Government and the ministry are concerned and ready to tackle this issue to ensure safety and security of lives and property,” he said.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
