The Federal Government has said it will collaborate with building professionals to uphold standards in the industry in a bid to reduce the spate of building collapse in the country.

The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, during a meeting with the leaders of the Nigerian Institute of Building in his office in Abuja, was quoted as saying the safety of all Nigerians remained important to the Federal Government.

“We are not leaving any stone unturned to achieve this. As a ministry that is saddled with the responsibility of ensuring internal security in Nigeria, our goal is to partner relevant professional bodies and organisations to achieve our mandate,” he said.

The President of the NIOB, Mr Kunle Awobodu, said the institute had earmarked March 13, the day a five- storey building collapsed at 63, Massey Street on the Lagos Island, killing over 20 people, who were mostly schoolchildren, as Builders’ Day.

He explained that the sad and painful incident caused by substandard building construction, had become common in the country.

He noted that it should serve as a reminder to stakeholders in the building industry on the fatal implications of non-compliance with appropriate building construction process.

According to Awobodu, the Builders’ Day, which would be an annual event would commence this year and would be a nation-wide sensitisation campaign against substandard building construction.

He said the NIOB needed the support of the Ministry of Interior to realise the objective.

Aregbesola said his ministry would collaborate with the NIOB to train artisans in building and ensure standardisation of all materials being used in building construction so as to avert the frequent incident of building collapse across the country, which he noted had claimed the lives of many Nigerians.

The minister enjoined the NIOB to help provide building skills at the correctional centres where inmates could be engaged in more productive activities, as well as generating income for themselves and the country.

“Among the causes of massive unemployment and insecurity in Nigeria is the failure of people to recognise key primary service providers such as the building artisans, so we are addressing this trend as part of our efforts at removing all threats to the security of lives and property of the citizenry,” he added.

Aregbesola also called for the training of artisans in various building and construction fields towards national development.

He also said the problem of incursion of foreign building personnel would be addressed by ensuring that the building expatriates were duly registered with the NIOB and licensed by the appropriate regulatory body, the Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria.

The minister said considering the pragmatic approach to solving building collapse, the Lagos State Government should be commended on its new building regulations that had assigned professional builders the responsibility of managing construction work at all building sites in the state.

According to him, a compromise on professionalism has caused the nation losses, adding that such building regulations, if made national, should help the nation reduce the crisis of building collapse.