Federal government has vowed to crack down on contractors over execution of substandard school buildings across the country.
Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, Dr Hamid Bobboyi, who stated this on Monday in Abuja during the training of staff of the commission’s Department of Physical Planning, on enhancing quality delivery of projects using simple tools for on-the-spot assessment at project sites,
urged stakeholders, including State Universal Basic Education Boards, SUBEB, to ensure quality in the delivery of school projects.
Bobboyi also expressed the commission’s commitment to work with SUBEBs with a view to improve the quality of school projects and ensure a safe and conducive learning environment for children.
In this vein, he disclosed that the commission would deploy monitors who would frequently go to find out what is going on across the construction sites.
Bobboyi noted that educational infrastructure are sensitive projects that must be handled with responsibility so as not to risk the lives of children and staff.
He noted that amid scarce funds, the little that is available must be used judiciously to ensure the delivery of solid projects all over the country.
Bobboyi lamented the recent school building collapse in Jos, even though it was not a building sponsored by UBEC, urging state governments to take proactive steps to ensure that contractors handling school building projects adhere strictly to specifications.
According to him, “we are dealing with a very strategic sector: children who are between the ages of five and six up to about 12 are vulnerable in any building collapse. We saw it when it happened in Jos.
“It is our responsibility to ensure that we take the necessary steps to build school infrastructure that are solid and can stand the test of time”.
The commission, he added is working with the Nigeria Building and Road Research Institute, NBRRI, through its Chief Executive, Professor Samson Duna and has also been working with the Council for the Registration of Engineers in Nigeria, COREN, to make sure that they are part of the monitoring teams at the state level.
Besides, Professor Duna said the training programme was a proactive step by UBEC to forestall rampant building collapse in Nigeria, especially school buildings.
Duna explained that the participants, who are UBEC technical staff, would visit the sites with tools to ascertain if the contractor is using the right steel and concrete for building construction.
“So I am now throwing a warning to contractors involved in taking contracts for constructing schools without following the required specification. They should sit up.
“UBEC has come up with the idea of ascertaining the quality of materials used in sites. The quality of concrete needs to be specified and the contractor must adhere to it. If he does not use it, the UBEC staff visiting the site are expected to travel or come with tools.
“Those tools will enable them know if the contractor is using the right material. Both steels, which are factory products, will also confirm if the concrete used is in conformity with the design”.
AljazirahNigeria reports that the training was organised in collaboration with the Nigeria Building and Road Research Institute and a private firm, Tectonics Engineering Group in Abuja.
