By Jimmy Jackson
The Cross River State Chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Building(NIOB) led by the National First Vice-President, Bldr(Sir) Alderton Ewa Fniob and the State Chapter Chairman, Bldr (Sir) Ekpenyong Ekpenpyong mniob with his Executive team paid a visit to the just Collapsed 2-Storey Building site at Muri Nta Eke (Effiong Bassey) Street,Ikot Ishie, Calabar which was on production stage.
During the visit, the body discovered that the building was on its second floor concreting when the collapse occured.
Preliminary investigation showed that the building production stage was going on without a Professional/ Registered Builder in charge ,rather it was left in the hands of quacks.
It was revealed that the Contractor is the client and the supervisor.
Further findings from some of the Workers that were lamenting on the incident, complained about poor quality of materials used during the Construction/production of the building.
The team’s physical Observations identified some poor materials such as fine aggregate seen on site, as it was understood that the material was gotten from a nearby drain popularly refers to as gutter sand.
The Investigation also revealed that the water used in mixing Concrete at the site came from a stagnant pool of water along the street, in addition to the poor sand and water mentioned above, the exposed reinforcement bars are questionable to the structural Designer; if at all the building was approved or registered.
It also stated that Only 8mm,10mm, and 12mm reinforcement bars were seen in all the structural elements and the spacing were unprofessionally placed.
The Chapter however assured that it will continue to monitor the development to enable assertian the causes of the collapsed building through technical means on other areas like foundation test, Concrete test, workability etc, before coming out with a communique on the building as well as profound solution to stop Building Collapse in Cross River State.
