ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF BUILDING COLLAPSE RISKS IN THE NIGERIAN ECONOMY

Abstract

he study examines the impact of building collapse risks in the Nigerian economy. Survey
research design was adopted in carrying out the research and five cities in Nigeria were
chosen (Abuja, Ibadan, Port Harcourt, Owerri and Lagos). The choice of those cities was
based on frequency of building collapse, population pressure and concentration of building
activities. The target population for the study is made up of the key professionals in the
Nigerian construction industry, stakeholders, clients and developers. A sample size of 1999
was chosen using Taro Yamane method. Data generated from 1860 respondents
representing 93 % of the distributed questionnaires were presented using frequency tables,
pie –charts and bar charts, while analysis was done using percentages and weighted mean.
The findings of the study show that building collapse risks have multifarious factors which
were categorized as Economic/Financial risks, Socio-political risks, Human related risks,
Physical risks, Environmental risks and Law/legal risks. The negative effects of these risks
are: Loss of lives, loss of property, professionals marketability to foreign firms has been
devalued, environmental damage and structural damage. It was also discovered that human
related risks have predominant effect in the Nigerian economy, while law/legal risks have the
least effect. The study recommends that there should be adequate funding and monitoring of
the activities of all emergency services such as National Emergency Management Agency
(NEMA), State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Local Emergency Management
Agency (LEMA), Red Cross Society, Fire Services, and NGOs among others.

KEYWORDS: Building Collapse, Building Collapse Risks, Nigerian Economy, Socio-
Economic Development, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).