Abuja building collapse: ARCON, CORBON move against quacks

The Architects Registration Council of Nigeria (ARCON) and the Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON) have expressed their readiness to move against quacks in the built sector.
The two professional bodies were reacting to the recent building collapse in Jabi, Abuja where about two persons reportedly lost their lives.
To mitigate against the occurrence of the such incidences, ARCON announced that it has set up a projects registration number system, while CORBON disclosed that it had reach out to stakeholders in the industry to regulate the sector.
The ARCON President, Dipo Ajayi, who explained that while the ARCON was intended to combat the scourge of building failure and collapse through the elimination of quackery, disclosed that only fully registered and financially current architects and architectural firms would prepare, produce and submit designs for planning and implementation approval and receive such approvals when given.
He said, “Architects and architectural firms who are registered with the council are to submit architectural building plans for approval/implementation and are responsible for the supervision of their designs.
“This measure is to complement the old practice of submitting building with a copy of the architect’s current practice licence, the affixing of ARCON stamps, signed by the architect and sealed with the architect’s ARCON seal on each sheet of the drawings submitted for approval; a letter from the client stating that the architect shall be responsible for the supervision of their architectural design during the construction period; the placement of the ARCON Project Registration Number on each sheet of the drawings submitted for approval and the placement of the APRN number, together with the architect’s or architectural firm’s name/registration number, on the project sign board upon commencement of construction.” Ajayi said ARCON was also planning to have an enforcement and compliance unit which would ensure that only registered architects handle architectural projects in the country in consonance with the extant laws.
“These measures put in place by the council are to complement the content and spirit of the National Building Codes which are to ensure that only professionals with the requisite knowledge and expertise of the building process are engaged to carry out building projects and are duly governed by the various Acts in our statute books,” he added.
On his part, the CORBON Chairman, Prof. Kabir Bala, expressed concern over the processes leading to the construction of buildings in the country.
To this end, he said the council was reaching out to relevant stakeholders in the building environment for synergy in enforcing laws to regulate products and processes which are inputs for the production of buildings.
Bala, in a statement, said the council immediately after the incident “had meaningful discussions with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON).
The two bodies are working on a strategy that will engage all stakeholders in the sector to imbibe the culture of standards in all aspects and ramifications of construction projects.
“CORBON shall continually build capacity of builders and work to checkmate the activities of quacks on building sites,” he assured