The Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS), an umbrella body for all the registered surveyors in Nigeria, Monday, advocated regular and frequent monitoring of multi-story buildings by qualified surveyors in the country.
The body noted that the move would stop the constant building collapse in Nigeria, which has in recent times, become a recurring decimal.
The President of the institution, Dr. Kayode Oluwamotemi, who spoke to Journalists in Abuja at the end of a road walk organized to mark this year’s Global Surveyors’ Day, said the regular monitoring of multi-story buildings by surveyors would detect weak soil and building depreciation.
He said: ” You have not identified our roles very well. But very soon, my role will be known. All solid buildings in the country should be monitored by qualified surveyors. When the building is built, it is good to monitor it regularly. It should be monitored yearly or for two years.
” Through frequent monitoring, you will know when a building wants to fall but you cannot know it with the naked eye. It is the only instrument that can see it. So, old buildings, and tall buildings, should be monitored every year. However, it depends on what the law says.”
On the issue of quackery in the industry, he acknowledged that every state has a disciplinary committee to sanction members who violate building laws.
He stated that the NIS was currently handling two cases related to quackery at the national level and emphasised the need to reduce such cases.
On Global Surveyors’ Day, which is celebrated annually on March 21st, Oluwamotemi highlighted the importance of surveyors, saying that surveying includes services such as data analysis, subdivision planning and design, legal description writing, mapping, construction, layout, and precision measurements of angles, lengths, and areas.
He said surveyors play a vital role in determining property boundaries and providing data relevant to the earth’s surface shape.
