President of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planning (NITP), Oluwatoyin Ayinde has said that the gross violation of ethical standards and lost morals have worsened the avoidable cases of building collapse.
Ayinde urged the stakeholders to formulate and implement punishment for actors who handled collapsed structures to serve as deterrent to others, and save lives and property from perishing.
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The NITP president made the call in Bauchi over the weekend during his two-day advocacy visit to relevant ministries, higher institutions, and the Emir’s Palace.
He lamented further that many state governments lack the political will to implement the existing plans.
Ayinde said in his visit to 23 states of the federation “only seven states had domesticated town planning law.
“Of the seven, three of them are implementing it in breach, meaning they have planning organisation but they are being headed by politicians who are members of the construction industry.
“For me, that’s being done in breach because the person cannot understand what the planning programme is.
“Lagos, Ogun and one other state have been able to domesticate it. We have a state that did it but because of GIS they abrogated it.”
He said that buildings collapse “as a result of loss of our morals, ethics and values. Most times, you see people compromising, neglecting to do their work. If construction is going on and the engineer is not supervising that is on us as a people.
“But there is a system that is supposed to check it, but if these people fail to do their work, something is wrong.
“One thing is paramount, if we have any wrongdoing, let’s punish the person who is wrong because that is the only way it can serve as a lesson to others in the future.
“That’s why we are failing, we fail to punish and then other people feel encouraged to commit unethical practices.”
When he visited the Emir of Bauchi Alhaji Rilwanu Suleiman Adamu, the NITP president sought the support of the Emir to succeed.
Ayinde and his team were also at the Federal Polytechnic, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Ministries of Housing and Environment, Land and Survey where all stakeholders pledged their cooperation towards the success of the town planners activities.
