By Dada Jackson, Senior Correspondent, Lagos

Worried by the incessant collapse of buildings nationwide and the need to put an urgent stop to it, a chartered builder, Mr.Godwin Erhabor, has advocated a return of building inspectors to building sites.

According to the Abuja based builder, who spoke exclusively to Daily Independent, the rate at which buildings were collapsing nationwide, is to say the least "worrisome and a dent on the image of professionals in the built environment."

Erhabor was of the opinion that unless something drastic was done to address the phenomenon, more buildings would continue to collapse, especially now that we are in the rainy season.

The chartered builder said what obtained in the past at construction sites where at every stage of development, building inspectors supervised construction, should be reintroduced, pointing out that the absence of building inspectors on most construction sites has been partly responsible for the spate of building collapses in the country.

According to him, professionals in the construction industry should brace up for the challenges now confronting them as it concerns collapse of buildings. He was quick to add, that they must now take the bull by the horns "if they are desirous of checking the menace of collapses."

He expressed disappointment at the way the problem of building collapses were being addressed, noting that it was time the issue was brought to the front burner.

The renowned builder said that the National Assembly should, as a matter of national interest, consider, the enactment of the National Building Code (NBC), which was approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) under the Obasanjo administration.

He explained that the absence of a regulatory document such as NBC was hampering the regulation of building process.

Erhabor posited that it was also expedient for all the professional bodies in the built environment and stakeholders alike to organise a workshop to sensitise the public on the need to stop patronising quacks in their building development.

He said that other state governments should emulate the Lagos Sate government for initiating the process of employing Physical Development Inspectors (PDI), who were deployed to construction sites to monitor development. He added that this step was in the right direction since they would be able to supervise every stage of the construction process and by so doing, detect any fault at the initial stage.