HOUSEMANSHIP FEMALE DOCTOR DIES IN AN ELEVATOR ACCIDENT #corporateleaders
Dr Vwaere Diaso who studied medicine and obtained her
degree from Babcock University, was reportedly dead in
the elevator accident that occurred in a Lagos general
hospital where she had only two weeks left for the
completion of her housemanship.
It's not enough to console her family, colleagues, state
and the nation for the loss. It could anyone of us across
the globe.
.
NUMBER OF COLLAPSED BUILDINGS ...
According reports a total of 61 incidents of collapsed
building occurred in Nigeria in 2022.
Meanwhile there's in existence National Building Code,
and Building Code Advisory Committee, established more
than a decade ago.
"The Committee” is hereby established, and shall be
answerable administratively and operationally to the
Minister. It shall be the duty of the Minister to brief the
National Council on Housing and Urban Development on
activities of the Committee.
If the provisions of the National Building Code are
observed to the letter why do we have rampant incidence
of building collapses and defective constructions leading
to accidents? Apart from security threats, loss of lives
and properties arising from these avoidable incidents it
as raised questions about the efficiency and capability of
professionals and government agencies responsible for
enforcing the provisions of the relevant laws.
There seem to be lapses along the line of all agencies
responsible for enforcement. We have to start from
creating awareness of the law sine Nigeria is largely rural
in construction compared to advanced countries. The
awareness is also necessary for those who apply and
enforce the laws. For instance those who issue
approvals for buildings and constructions going on in the
communities should be held responsible in tort.
PROFESSIONAL OBLIGATIONS
Many professionals are involved in the building and
construction industry and it would be unfair to single out
one professional for blame. However, it amounts to
criminal silence on the part of Quantity Surveyors and
Construction and Cost Management professionals not to
whistle-blow or report when buildings are being set up
without proper compliance with relevant laws,
specifications and approvals leading to their collapses.
GOOD CORPORATE GOVERNANCE & CORRUPTION ARE NOT COMPATIBLES
The government and corporate bodies have the
responsibility to curb corrupt practices for good
corporate governance to excel. Corruption thrives
because of three main conditions that are constantly
preserved:
1 Benefits acquired illicitly
2 Low-risk of penalty/prevention
3 Disregard of morality: pain of poverty/privilege of public
office
To tackle it advanced countries have heightened the scale
of penalty, sense of morality and detection of crime. It
seems that the focus in Asia has been to heighten sense
of morality only. In spite of all these Halliburton, FIFA,
ENRON etc are still fresh case studies which raise the
issue of sanctions and its efficacy.
The various governments connected to late Vwaere
should go for Inquest and probably corporate
manslaughter.
Ikechukwu Odoemelam Esq
Corporate Attorney/Consultant
