Sunday Ojeme 
Nigeria as a country has been considered lucky from exposure to natural disasters.
Disasters
Compared to some countries, cases of earthquakes, wildfires, tsunami and other nature-induced catastrophes, which are commonplace in those regions, are hardly or never recorded here.
Besides occasional flooding, which has become rampart of late in some parts of the country, Nigerians have continued to enjoy relative peace with no apprehension of an impending or sudden natural disaster.
However, far from being completely immune from incidents of pains, anxiety or even death, some self-induced calamities have remained sources of depression and unexpected losses.
Prominent in this regard is rampart cases of building collapse across the country. From the rural areas to urban centres, news filter in from time to time of either a completely built structure or one under construction caving in to one form of defect or the other.
Besides the numbers that have occured in the past where the injured had to carry their cross and the families of dead victims bear the brunt of burying their dead, more stories of collapsed buildings still rent the air.
Records
Just recently, the Commissioner for Insurance, Mr. Sunday Thomas, recalled the report of Building Collapse Prevention Guild, which recorded, at least, 62 catastrophes in 2022, causing 84 deaths and injuring 113 persons.
The details revealed that Lagos had 20 cases, while Kano and Anambra recorded five building accidents each, and Delta and Jigawa four each, stressing that, also, 135 cases were reported between 2007 and 2013 and that these collapses not only result in the loss of invaluable human lives but also lead to significant financial burden for the government and communities.
Only recently, and within a space of one week, precisely October 2 and 12, 2023, two churches, one in Benue and the other in Osun state, were said to have collapsed, killing three people.
According to the report, the collapsed building of the Mission Ward branch of Dunamis Church in the North Bank area of Makurdi town claimed the life of a pastor and left four others with serious injuries.
An eyewitness said though the cause of the collapse was yet to be determined, many alleged that it was due mainly to building defect.
On the Osun version, two women were reported dead after the collapse of the church building in Ikirun, headquarters of Ifelodun Local government area of Osun State.
This came as a man, simply identified as Seun, was pulled out of rubble of a collapsed building in the Old Bank area of Ifo, in Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun state.
The building in Osun as in most cases was still under construction with workers on sight when it collapsed.
Building insurance
Over time, while governments at all levels have continued to undermine the enormity of the disasters, what has also been largely left out of the picture is the opportunity provided by insurance to compensate third party victims of building collapse.
While the policies for building under construction and public building have been existing for years, records and reports from collapsed building incidents reveal that neither developers nor landlords, and even government, in most cases, take insurance covers for their workers or tenants.
According to the policy as spelt out in the Insurance Act, all public buildings, including schools, hospitals, and commercial spaces, must be insured against liabilities arising from loss, bodily injury, or property damage caused by various perils like collapse, fire, earthquake, storm, or flood.
Failure to insure public buildings can lead to penalties, including a fine of N100,000 or one-year imprisonment, or both.
In addition, insurance of buildings under construction policy is an essential requirement for anyone involved in the construction or ownership of multi-storey buildings in Nigeria. It provides a safety net against potential risks that may arise during the construction process.
This policy ensures that contractors, owners, and agents are held accountable for any negligence that may result in bodily harm, property damage, or fatality to the public.
By complying with this policy, stakeholders can guarantee the safety of their projects and mitigate potential financial losses. Therefore, it is crucial to prioritise the Insurance of Buildings Under Construction policy to ensure the success.
Failure to obtain Insurance of Buildings Under Construction in Nigeria can result in severe penalties, including a fine of N250,000 or three years imprisonment, or both.
Negligence
Unfortunately, Nigeria has, over time, become a country where victims have been left to wallow in their pains.
Available records have shown that owners of property that have collapsed, injured or killed third party victims have never been fully prosecuted, jailed or made to pay commensurate compensation to victims, who are still alive or to the families of the dead ones.
Besides sealing up and taking over the property, government’s negligence stretches to doing little or nothing to assist victims of building collapse.
Experts’ views
The villainous part of government was once confirmed by a renowned architect and a former Chairman, Nigerian Institute of Architects, Arc David Majekodunmi, who blamed the incessant building collapse on relevant government agencies that are not seen doing what they ought to do.
Majekodunmi lamented that government had not been seen implementing several recommendations of panel of enquiries raised to address the menace of building collapse.
He also noted that most of the building collapses were basically negligence by professionals, clients and workers, who would have been brought to book and serve as deterrent to others if government implanted the recommendation submitted by the panel.
Amid the obvious negligence on the part of developers, landlords and government, the insurance industry, back-to-back, has continued to disseminate information on the importance of building insurance.
To consolidate on this, the management of National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) and other stakeholders have been mobilising campaigns across the country by meeting directly with governors on the need to embrace building insurance.
While expressing regret about the collapse of a seven storey building in Banana Island, Lagos State, the leadership of Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) noted that the collapse brought to questioning the continuous recalcitrance of building contractors to adhere to extant regulatory prescriptions concerning public buildings in the country.
The President of the Council, Rotimi Edu, regretted the collapse, describing it as a case of negligence by the building experts, who undertook the construction.
Edu seized the opportunity to underscore the sensitivity of public buildings necessitating the need for builders and owners to imbibe insurance policies such as Public Liability, Contractors All Risk (CAR) and other prescription of Section 64 & 65 of the Insurance Act, with regard to public buildings.
“If these insurance policies had been in place, the risk of total loss incurred by the owners of the collapsed buildings would have been greatly reduced,’ he noted.
Besides the Banana Island experience, as well as many others in the past, similar incidence of a high rise block of luxury flats under construction in the neighborhood of Ikoyi in Lagos occurred in which several persons were killed.
Edu had also advised professionals in built industry to pay more attention to all specifications of building construction to avoid incessant building collapse that had claimed several lives.
As a way out, Edu said that the issue of enforcement of relevant laws that will ensure that contractors are not negligent in discharging their responsibilities, including all required insurance policies, should not be held with kid-gloves.
According to him, there are many buildings across the country that are not proper and fit for human habitation.
He, however, urged members of the Nigerian Institute of Architects to embrace insurance policies that are relevant to their profession, adding that the members were mandated by law to have professional indemnity among many other types of policies that are available.
Findings also show that the 21-storey Ikoyi high-rise incident was more revealing as such a monumental project was not insured.
According to revelations, the leadership of the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) and Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) said non of their members notified them of their involvement in the insurance of the building.
The immediate past Chairman of NIA, Ganiyu Musa, said no insurer notified the association of its involvement in provision of insurance to the building.
He noted that the association put in place an enquiry mechanism to ascertain whether members underwrote the building, but no member company came up to state that it provided cover for the building.
On what the the association was doing to ensure such buildings being constructed across major cities in the country are adequately covered by insurance, he said the association in collaboration with the NAICOM were engaging federal and state governments to ensure the full implementation of the compulsory insurance law.
Fire brigade approach
Known for its fire brigade approach to issues, the state government had reacted swiftly to the collapse with a directive from the House of Assembly that the victims be compensated.
It was also noted that the call by the Lagos State House of Assembly on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to compensate the families of those that died in the 21-storey building, wouldn’t have been necessary if insurance was given a priority.
The House, in a motion, also called on the governor to direct the relevant agencies of government to ensure that all requirements for buildings as stipulated in extant laws of the state were strictly adhered to.
The Speaker of the House, Mudashiru Obasa, who presided over the sitting, said it was an unfortunate development given the loss of lives that occurred following the incident.
The House also expressed worries that, over time, the state had recorded series of building collapses like the one that happened in November 2006 and a three-storey building that collapsed in Ita Faaji in 2016, among others.
“The House is disturbed about the constant collapse of buildings in the state and the manner in which agencies set up to inspect building work, give certification at various stages of construction and keep records for ease of reference, and realise that these frequent cases of building collapse can be attributed to unqualified or unskilled builders, use of sub-standard building materials, illegal conversion or alterations to existing structures and lack of maintenance to mention a few,” the motion said.
The unfortunate thing in government’s reactions to the development is leaving insurance out of the equation.
The decision to overlook insurance and offer direct compensation has largely shortchanged victims as they are provided with whatever the benefactor deems fit.
However, not giving up on the need to ensure adherence to all the provisions in the Compulsory Insurances, NAICOM has been taking steps to consolidate in order to ensure Nigerians, especially third party victims in the event of disasters are adequately compensated.
Regulators’ guide
Besides several campaigns in the past, a major conference with the theme: ‘Redefining Safety: Insurance Solutions for Public Buildings and Buildings Under Construction,’ has been specifically designed to reawaken the public Federal Government’s interest on the need for insurance .
Speaking on the event, Thomas said the recent alarming rate of building collapses in Nigeria underscored the urgent necessity of implementing comprehensive insurance for “our public buildings and buildings under construction, adding that these two types of insurance are part of the compulsory insurance policies of the National Insurance Commission, that give succour to our people in the event of a building collapse or the occurrence of other risk factors.
He said: As a nation, as landlords and building owners, as project managers and site builders, and users and workers within public buildings, we need to start taking these two insurance policies very seriously – The Public Building Insurance and the Insurance of Building under Construction.
“They can provide financial protection against such unforeseen disasters, enabling swift recovery, reconstruction, and the restoration of critical services.
“By insuring public buildings, Nigeria can safeguard its infrastructure investments, ensure the continuity of essential services, and promote a safer, more resilient environment for its citizens.
“This upcoming conference is bringing stakeholders together to forge a way forward to drive more awareness and compliance with the Public Building Insurance and the Insurance of Buildings under Construction.”
He said NAICOM, as government agency, was determined to complement various policies of the government with various initiatives that will aggressively open up and grow the economy.”
Last line
Why it is clear that government still needs to play a major role in compensating victims of certain unforeseen disasters, it is also germane for Nigerians to hold on to relevant laws that give them the opportunity to be adequately compesated in the event of any loss, and to do this is navigating and embracing insurance, especially the compulsory policies, which largely protects third party victims.
