Identification of the Key Causes and Measures to Prevent Building Collapses in Nigeria

Abstract Buildings collapse in the Nigerian major urban cities continues to engender an excessive number of fatalities, injuries and property damage. The collapse of building infrastructure, though prominent in developing economies, is a worldwide issue. Building developments collapse at the construction stages and in some cases after commissioning. Examples abound in recent times in Abuja and Lagos. The major problem is the unquantifiable resources wasted when building construction development collapses. If the answer to this endemic problem is proper project management, it becomes imperative to institutionalize its activities in Nigeria. Building Collapse is an occurrence that has been notorious over the decades. It is caused by many factors which have their great impact on the lives and properties of man. This study reviews current causes in the building industry. In view of this development, this study is aimed at demonstrating how real estate project management strategy helps in building collapse. Data from the primary source were basically from the designed instrument, which were distributed to the population of 100 professionals in the building industries. In this paper, it was concluded that the key causes of building collapse are weak/faulty foundations, inefficient stringent quality control in material utilization, and management, boycotting the professionals, absence of proper site investigation, the absence of proper site investigation and the engagement of inexperienced personnel. The aim of the study was to identify the factors influencing the occurrence of construction disasters in Nigeria in order to prevent them in the future. However, the analysis of the results gathered, reveal that, there was variance in opinions, as to the causes of building collapse among professionals in an attempt to exonerate themselves from the blame for building collapse. These were classified as the areas in the building sector that were prone to building collapse. Therefore, this study claims that the above-listed causes of building collapse are predominant in the Nigerian construction industry.