THE RELEVANCE OF FIRE SAFETY DESIGN IN BUILDING

TECHNOLOGY

BY

SAIDU ADAMU NINGI

AND

ABUBAKAR USMAN

BUILDING DEPARTMENT

SCHOOL OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION

FEDERAL COLLEGE OF EDUCATION (TECHNICAL) POTISKUM

YOBE STATE,
BEING A PAPER PRESENTED AT THE 3RD NATIONAL CONFERENCE ORGANISED
BY

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS EDUCATION

FEDERAL COLLEGE OF EDUCATION (TECHNICAL) POTISKUM, YOBE STATE.

FROM 7TH - 10TH MAY 2018.

Abstract
The spates of building collapse in Nigeria in the past twenty years have assumed a very
worrisome dimension as many lives are lost and huge investments wasted. This paper is set to
examine the causes and effects of building collapse on the nation’s economy with a view to
providing information that will forestall future occurrences in the study area particularly and
other developing nations in general. Several causes of building failure had been attributed to
either natural or man-made phenomena, in Nigeria surveys carried out have shown that the use of
substandard building materials; poor workmanship, the use of quacks instead of professionals,
non-enforcement of building codes or construction regulations, corruption in the building
industry etc. have contributed immensely in most of the recorded cases of building failures.
Consequently, these often results to building collapse which has adverse effect on both people
and investments in the building industry. In the year 2014 over one hundred and twenty deaths
related to building collapse was recorded in Lagos. Similar stories goes for cities like Port-
Harcourt, and Abuja. This paper provides relevant information on the state of the nation in
respect of the incidences of building collapse and the tendency for the situation to persist if
adequate measures are not urgently taken. It was recommended that to curb or eradicate the
incidences of building collapse, all the stakeholders in the construction industry should adhere
strictly to the provisions of the building code, the SON (Standard Organization of Nigeria)
should ensure that only certified building materials are allowed in the market. Similarly,
government should put in place machinery for strict monitoring of construction sites by
enforcing relevant laws to sanitize the building industry.

Keywords: Corruption, Building collapse, Failure, Building materials.