The Nigeria Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI) says preliminary evidence before it shows that the collapsed Dennis Memorial Grammar School, Onitsha, centenary building, did not get necessary approvals.
Prof. Akaolisa Ezeagu, Chairman of NBRRI Technical Team on Building Collapse in Anambra, said this when the team visited the site for assessment on Saturday.
Ezeagu, who is the Head of Civil Engineering Department of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, attributed the collapse to foundation problem that resulted from disconnect between the building team and the technical engineer.
He said that a building of such magnitude should be subjected to all construction approval processes including those from the central authority.
“For now, what we have seen shows some areas of concern which point towards a foundation problem.
“We have seen that there was a gap between the technical engineer and the construction team in terms of the foundation the technical engineer prescribed and the one the construction team used.
“Again, the document they gave us had no approval stamps by any known authority, which should not be the case,” he said.
Ezeagu added that drawings sighted by the team had no stamp of any central approval to show that it had been studied and given a seal of approval to start.
“This type of building should get approval from a central body in the state which will thoroughly go through the documents submitted by the architect and engineers and look for gaps, and where there is none, construction will be approved,” he said.
Ezeagu, who described the building collapse as unfortunate, said that the visit was mainly for fact-finding which involved establishment of negligence and concerns, and recommendations.
He said that the team had collected samples for a series of tests.
The expert expressed worry over the rate of building collapse in Onitsha metropolis, and recommended a detailed research on the type of soil and the height of building it could carry.
He commended the school and the building team for cooperating with the NBRRI team by providing information to aid its investigation.
“We have interacted with the principal of the school and the consultant, and the building team has supplied us with all the information, including building drawings and building calculations.
“There are areas that are originally designed for non-high rise buildings, and if you must build high-rise buildings in such places, you must go the extra mile.
“Based on the history of this area, the highest floor here is three or four, and if you want to go for six floors, it requires that you must do something different from what other people here have done,” he said.
Ezeagu said that the details of the teams’s findings would be captured in a report which would be gazetted and made accessible to members of the public.
