THE President of the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB),. Chucks Omeife, has exonerated professional builders from being culpable of incessant building collapses in the country.

According to him, there has never being an established allegation of professional ineptitude on the part of a builder for any of the collapsed buildings recorded so far.

While fielding questions from journalists at NIOB’s pre-Annual General Meeting (AGM) press conference, last week, in Abuja, the NIOB boss said, “you journalists are given the assignment to look for the causes of collapsed buildings in the country and see whether a professional builder has ever been indicted.”

Omeife said builders should not be held responsible for errors committed by any of the other professionals in the built industry that lead to collapse of building, while also stressing that “the builder is statutorily responsible for building production management.”

He rather attributed the scourge of building collapses to lack of enabling laws to criminalise the violation or non-compliance with regulations in the industry, particularly the National Building Code approved in 2008.

According to him, “it is due to lack of this enabling law that quackery has become the order of the day, as no single person or group has been prosecuted for a negative role in building collapse,” while also adding that this had given quacks the courage to continue to wreak havoc, kill people and waste resources which has ultimately culminated in loss to the economy.

Reposing confidence in the new National Housing Policy if implemented to the letters, Omeife suggested the establishment of the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) to “midwife and stimulate the sustainable growth reforms and improvement of the sector for effective service delivery which will enhance its contribution to the nation’s economy.”

This year’s National Conference/Annual General Meeting coming up between July 11 and 15, 2012 in Enugu, he said, would be held by professionals with a view to finding useful and valuable suggestions “that will stimulate and further the course of government’s transformational agenda for the built environment.”