The Nigerian Society of Engineers

PORT HARCOURT BRANCH

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INTERVIEW WITH PROF. YOUPELE BEREDUGO ON THE TRAGEDY OF COLLAPSE STRUCTURES IN NIGERIA- ENGINEERING PERSPECTIVES

E- Newsletter: Prof. Can you please tell us about your life and your pro- We have re-enforcement without any manufacturers certification as to
fessional background? the strength of these materials. That is the construction side. Now when
Prof: I was born on the 5th of July 1934. I attended Government College you come to the design, Im afraid once again, unqualified people design
Umuahia from 1948-53, then the University College of Ibadan from 1953- some of these structures. Private people are not very keen on paying
1955. Thereafter I went to money to consultant to design structures for them. Some of them get
Queens University Belfast, draught men who will design these structures and in certain areas, wind
1955-1958 where I obtained load is a factor but very rarely do our designers take wind load into con-
my Bachelor of engineering sideration when they are designing structures. But basically most of the
degree. Then I spent a year in failures Im sure can be traced to these unqualified people who designed
Holland attending a one-year these structures and do the actual building. For example, years back along
course in Hydraulic Engineer- the East west Road here in Port Harcourt a building construction was
ing, I came out with a diploma going and I noticed that the re-enforcement of the cantilever was placed at
in Hydraulic engineering. I the bottom instead at the top. when I brought it to the notice of the con-
went back to Queens Univer- tractor, he told me that he has been building for years and thats how its
sity Belfast did a master in done and at times they even place it in the middle to make it stronger. Im
Civil Engineering, specialized sorry to say, that the building collapsed. These are what I think that are
in pipe foundation. Then I Sir George Eze & Dr A. Ujile with Prof. Y. Beredugo responsible for collapsed buildings in Nigeria.
came back to Nigeria to work briefly with the Niger Delta Development E-Newsletter: Thank you very much. From your explanation, does it
Board as their Civil Engineer, Hydrologist. I went to ABU in 1963 as a mean that engineering design calculations, building/construction codes
lecturer. I was there till 1966 and left as a result of civil war and I had a are not properly considered by our Local Government Authorities who
short stay at the University of Nigeria from December 1966-1967, I had to register and approve plans?
run again because of the civil war. I finally went to Lagos where I worked
Prof: With all due respect, except probably for Port Harcourt City Local
in the Federal Ministry of Works, Housing, Materials and Research Divi-
Government most areas do not have qualified engineers. They have what
sion. In 1969 I left for Canada to the University of Western Ontario, where
they call superintendent of works and in most cases they are not qualified
I did my PhD on foundation, especially Vibration and partially embedded
enough to certify the structural integrity or otherwise of the building.
foundation. I came back to Rivers State in 1971; worked with Shell until
Owing to this fact, they are only interested in the payment of fees and
1973 when I left for Rivers State College of Science and Technology (now
anything goes. Im also sorry to say that some engineers are not true to
RSUST). I was there until 1978, and then I resigned and went into private
our profession. Because of the money they receive from all these draught
practice. I was in private practice until 1989 when the call of duty came,
men that prepare drawings, they go ahead to stamp their drawings. Basi-
and I served as a Resident Electoral Commissioner here in Rivers State,
cally as far as the approval is concern, I dont think that the Local Gov-
Kaduna State, Niger State and finally Adamawa State where I was one of
ernment are checking these drawings strictly.
those who conducted the now famous June 12th 1993 election. After the
election I came back and continued with my consultancy practice until E-Newsletter: From your experience, is there any State or Local Govern-
1998 when I went back to the University of Port Harcourt as a visiting ment legislation authorizing experts to check drawings before construc-
professor. Finally left in 2003 and since then I have been in engineering tion?
consultancy practice not too vigorously but enough to keep me in touch Prof: Plainly speaking, I dont know. But the Local Government has the
with the profession. Briefly that is my life history. responsibility to certify drawings for construction. They are expected to
E- Newsletter: Thank you very much. Based on your experience, what approve the drawings. In the good old days, there was the City Engineers,
is your opinion on the causes of structural failure we experience in Nige- whose duty is to approve drawings. As a result of delay in approval, dur-
ria? (Collapse buildings, overhead water tanks etc.) ing Obasanjos first regime, a directive was given that if drawings were
not approved within three months, one can go ahead and construct. How-
Prof: My little experience with failed structures are improperly designed
ever it is the responsibility of local government to approve drawings. This
foundation, secondly, use of sub-standard materials, thirdly, unqualified
approval entails making sure that the design is safe. But the problem is
personnel being employed to design some of these structures, to supervise
that most Local Government Engineers are not qualified engineers, not
the construction of these structures and to participate in the actual con-
even technologist but quantity surveyors, architect etc.
struction of these structures. Now you will find that private buildings are
constructed without any sub-soil investigations and designers simply as- E-Newsletter: Based on the numerous structural failures, does it mean
sume bearing capacity value and design the structure. Soil is a very vari- that our building and construction codes in Nigeria are not being applied
able material. Therefore for any structure above a bungalow, a sub- soil or our attitudinal behavior that is responsible for the problem? Or our
investigation should be carried out by a qualified geo-technical consultant. Local Government areas are not aware of the existing codes of prac-
Geologists are very good in this area because of their substantial knowl- tice?
edge but their knowledge stop with the identification of soil types but
when you come to the usage of these soil types, Im afraid they are lack- Prof: Fortunately, we have few standard codes of practice in Nigeria.
ing. Secondly, sub-standard materials: The blocks we are using are not Lagos City Council then had a building code but I doubt whether
normally tested to find out whether they possess adequate strength for use. other states have building codes. It is as a result of this that the Nige-
The way they measure the mix is something else. If you observe in most ria Society of Engineers in collaboration with the Nigerian Standard
building sites, they just pour sand and cement and mix with water without organization is now undertaking a program to prepare codes of prac-
measurement. When you come to re-enforcement its the same thing. tice and standards for Nigeria. However, we used British Standards
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INTERVIEW WITH PROF. YOUPELE BEREDUGO FNSE, continued

when Nigerian standards were not available. The only standard I know of E-Newsletter: Dont you think it is necessary to carry out assessments
is NCPI code of practice for the use of concrete in building. It was pre- to know actual causes of failure and to prevent future occurrences?
pared by the Nigerian Society of Engineers and it was a working stress Prof: NSE has a failure investigation committee that investigates
method. We were in the process of trying to develop limit design code of all failures that occur and one would expect that we learn from these
practice but we didnt succeed in producing one. So for the moment we failures. In Engineering, failure is not a disorder which you think it is,
use mainly British codes. But conditions here are quite different from because we learn from the failures. Failure does not occur only in Ni-
what is obtainable in Britain. For example, the British codes for concrete geria, it cuts across the whole world. We jokingly made the statement
are based on the strength of the concrete at 28 days. Where as in Nigeria that when you look at the various professions medical doctors burry
the strength of the concrete can be different based on our climate. In fact their mistakes, Lawyers live by their mistakes, but Engineers are bur-
experience has shown that within seven days short-rings can be removed ied by their mistakes. So talking of the risk factor, I believe we have a
from concrete mix. Our University teachers should do the basic ground cost engineering division and recently there have been some problems
work and bring recommendations that will enable our developers apply between cost engineering division and the Nigeria Institute of Quantity
the local standards and codes. Surveyors, because the Quantity Surveyors usually are just concerned
with buildings and anything that has to do with real measurement, they
E-Newsletter: Do you think seven days is really proper for us to remove are not interested. Somewhere along the line, they are trying to en-
short-ring? croach on the Engineering area. They are claiming that they are the
Prof: Short rings can be removed after 3days no matter the volume and people to value machinery whereas, thats the responsibilities of the
capacity involved. Mechanical Engineer, Electrical Engineer, and the Cost Engineer. So I
E-Newsletter: Will you still attain the same working strength? hope that the Cost Engineering division will take up these issues of
Prof: Yes, Provided the concrete is properly mixed. Thats another prob- risk management and come up with a solution which can be embedded
lem. It is quite safe to remove the short rings after 3days. The 7days into the codes of practice which are now being prepared.
strength Im talking about is that instead of basing our design on the
strength of concrete at 28 days, there is no reason why we can not base E-Newsletter: Thank you so much for the experiences you have
our design on strength of the concrete at 7days. shared with us and we strongly believe that our audience, the reading
E-Newsletter: Are you saying that 28days is the maximum? public will enjoy it. But all the same we will like you to strike a little
more on what should be done to actually enable the people who build
Prof: Not the Maximum but at 28days you find that the curve is rea- houses or structures to ensure that soil investigation is carried out.
sonably flat up to 3months. You will find that increase of strength is mini- Prof: I think this is a matter for the Local Government. Each Local
mal. And after 90days there is even sometimes a slight drop in strength. Government should enact a By-law requiring sub-soil investigation to
Whereas under Nigerian condition, after 7days, its almost flat. I think we be carried out for any building beyond a bungalow by a qualified Geo-
can explore the possibility of using the development of strength here in technical Engineer; and the requirement for approval is that you have a
Nigeria in our codes instead of using the one in Britain. You do not re- sub-soil investigation report. Another thing is that total settlement is
invent the wheel. We have other countries having similar tropical climatic not very dangerous, it is not good, it can make the structure unservice-
conditions; we should look at their codes and try to harmonize the codes able, but the dangerous one is the differential settlement. If one side of
of practice. We heard that European countries are now developing Euro the structure settles more than the other then you get structural failures
code, so that the whole of Europe will use one code since they have simi- and your structure can collapse or your structure can become unserv-
lar climatic conditions. Similarly, we should be able to collaborate with iceable. Other factors are quick sand, ground water level and the type
other countries in Tropical Africa and develop a code of practice which of ground water. All these are contributing factors to the failure of
can be used throughout Tropical Africa. Im happy that NSE is very seri- structure. And I strongly believe that our Local Governments should
ous with the development of the new codes and the divisions are to pre- enact bye-laws for any building beyond a bungalow.
pare codes for their relevant areas of specialization. E-Newsletter: Once again thank you very much.

NSE PH BRANCH TECHNICAL VISIT TO ALADJA STEEL PLANT

The details of the
visit would be pub-
lished in subsequent
edition.

EXCO Meeting for the month of Engr. Dr. Olie GM SMS Explaining
JMD explaining DSC operations. with NSE PH to
August in session. his left and DSCL Management staff to the right Mill Operation with a sample

COREN 17TH ENGINEERING ASSEMBLY:

THEME : VALUE FOR MONEY IN ENGINEERING PROJECTS: THE ROLE OF ENGINEERING REGULATION.
VENUE: INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE CENTRE. ABUJA. DATE: 23RD-24TH SEPT, 2008.
REGISTRATION FEE: #12,000. PRE-REGISTRATION: #15,000. AFTER 22ND AUGUST, 2008. TECH & CRAFTMEN: #6,000 FLAT.
PROGRAMME OUTLINE: DAY [Link]M-OPENING CEREMONY, 12:00PM: TEA BREAK, 1:00PM: TECH SESSIONS, 7:00PM: DINNER.
DAY 2: 9:00AM TECH SESSION, 12:00PM: TEA BREAK, 12:30PM: TECH SESSION, 2:00PM CLOSING

NOTICE! NOTICE!! NOTICE!!!

All members of NSE PH should pay their annual branch dues of N4000 and compulsory levy of N5000 towards the Engineer Resource Center
to UBA ACC. NO: 0802080000194 (Port Harcourt main Branch). Also pay National Annual Subscription of N5,500.00 directly to
AFRIBANK ACC No. 1420202215613 & forward all tellers to the secretariat for reconciliation. All payments should be made at the Bank