TACKLING CAUSES OF FREQUENT BUILDING COLLAPSE IN NIGERIA

A building, once properly constructed is expected to be in use for a very long time. Although every society has its own problems and Nigeria is not an exception yet the very recent challenges of buildings collapsing in various locations have been giving the various arms of government and the people of Nigeria sleepless nights in view of the enormous loss of huge investments in housing, properties and human life. The major challenge on the issue of building collapse is that individuals differ radically from one another on the professional to blame as the major cause of the collapse of a building. This study reviews current challenges in the building industry in relation to collapse of buildings, loss of lives and properties. Data for the study were obtained through structured questionnaires administered to landlords and professionals in the construction industry in addition to academia in the built environment. Historical data of past collapsed buildings in Nigeria were also discussed. Findings from the three prominent groups were varied. First, building experts blamed building collapses on the use of low quality building materials coupled with employment of incompetent artisans and weak supervision of workmen on site. Second, public opinion revealed that the blames of building collapse were due to non-compliance with specifications/standards, use of substandard building materials and equipments and the employment of incompetent contractors. Third, opinion of the academia on remote causes of building collapse showed that the route causes are mainly the non-enforcement of existing laws and endemic poor work ethics of Nigerians at large. The study recommends that the press should lay more emphasis on educating the public at large on the dangers of the collapse of a building and less on public emotions. In addition, government should, on one hand, embark on proactive steps by mustering enough political will to allow the Town Planning Authorities to perform their functions unfettered and on the other hand, provide the legal framework that can improve and ensure smoother, less time-consuming and less burdensome ways to conduct business in the functioning of law courts

Informal Land Delivery System in Lagos State,Nigeria

There is a growing body of research concerned with the relationship between informal land delivery system and housing development in Lagos State. Studies originate from a diversity of sources, and encompass a variety of geographic scales and locations. To add to this diversity, many different characteristics of urban form as well as land acquisition patterns have been examined. This paper brings together informal land delivery system and housing development systematic patterns over the last 20 years. This paper is divided i~to three sections in the area of the existing modes of land accessibility; variations in land market transactions under different cultural and social influences and practical attributes that make land transaction arrangements better suited to society's needs. The study found that informal land delivery system is more effective in delivering land for housing, because of its user-friendly characteristics and social legitimacy. The study recommended that the informal processes of subdivision of family land for sale should be based on approved layouts to ensure the reservation of access ways and sites for social facilities. Finally, the issue of security of tenure and the harassment encountered by developers from the "Omo-onile" should be addressed by both the local and state government

HVOTL Associated Risks and Real Estate Investment in Lagos Metropolis, Nigeria

High Voltage Overhead Transmission Lines (HVOTLs) associated risks have been thought to foster potential risks elements capable of creating property value diminution when located within the built environment. This current attempt identifies and evaluates particular risk elements attributable to HVOTLs within a perpendicular distance of 200m in residential neighbourhoods within Alimosho and Surulere neigbourhoods in Lagos metropolis using survey method. Data retrieved from residents within a 200meters distance perpendicular to power lines in the study areas of Lagos metropolis were analyzed and interpreted using the relative importance index. The study established that within the study areas, all nine risk elements were found significant but within varing extents. The study suggests that ROWs in the state must be enforced and respected by the public while erring individuals be sanctioned and their buildings demolished by State and Federal governments actions. This is crucial in promoting the sustainability of real estate investment

Empirical Determination of Property Assets Management Styles in South-Western Nigeria Hotels

A survey was conducted on probabilistically determined 57 hotels of various ‘stars’ in South-Western geo-political zone of Nigeria. The study investigates hotels’ property assets management styles with a view to fashioning out appropriate management methodology and develop an integrated resource management framework. Data were collected from hotel organizations’ management, general managers, staff and customers. Information obtained was complemented by the physical assessment of hotel structures and system operations. Stratified sampling technique backed by cluster sampling was used. Descriptive statistics was employed for statistical analysis. Findings showed that maintenance management predominates in the industry while facilities management is just filtering in with emphasis on facilities benchmarking. Property management is not favoured at all. The study recommends that Nigeria Tourism Development Corporation should develop a framework for quality assurance policy improvement among hotels in Nigeria. By so doing, hotel management companies and intending property development and management companies would be guided and buoyed into doing things beyond benchmarking

DATA SHARING : A CRITICAL FACTOR FOR ESTATE SURVEYING AND VALUATION PRACTICE IN NIGERIA

The study examines the barriers to data accessibility on the operation of the property market, in the field of estate surveying and valuation. The study was conducted using questionnaires, administered on practicing Estate Surveyors and Valuers, within Lagos Metropolis. The study revealed that lack of data sharing is a major barrier to valuation consistency, particularly with transactions on residential ‘properties where evidence of past transactions are very important. The study further revealed that members of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers need, just like RICS, UK, join hands together and create a strong databank just like the Investment Property Databank (IPD),that can be used by anyone that require such information, even at a token

Rent Control and Residential Property Values in Lagos State Nigeria

Prior to 1997, arbitrary rent increases, unlawful ejection of tenants, Lengthy and un-ending Litigations between Landlords and tenants were rampant in Lagos State, Nigeria. This dictated the intervention of Lagos State Government through the promulgation of the Rent Control and Recovery of Residential Premises Edict, which stipulates, inter alia, specific method to be adopted in determining residential property values. This research examines the statutory method of detem1ining standard rent under the edict, and adopts the multiple-comparison and analysis of variance techniques to determine the relationship between statutory and open market rents. It discovers that rent control has no impacts on rental prqperty values in the study area. It therefore concludes that government intervention through control of rent would injure the urban poor it sets out to protect and recommends that government should hands off control of rent on houses government has not produce

Characterization of rapidly solidified commercial grey cast iron in drop-tube

This study presents containerless solidification of BS 1452 grade 250 commercial grey cast iron using 6.5m drop-tube apparatus. It gives a comparative summary of microstructural changes that occur between the rapidly cooled droplet particles as against its conventional slowly cooled control as-cast sample. The bulk as-received sample was melted and rapidly cooled during free fall in high vacuum containerless equipment. These rapidly solidified samples were collected and sieved into size ranges from >850 μm to <53 μm diameter, corresponding to estimated cooling rate of 500 K s-1 to 75,000 K s-1 with each sieve fraction being prepared for metallographic characterization. The analytical methods used include; light optical microscope and scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction and differential thermal analyses. The result of this investigation reveals that the microstructure of the as-cast sample shows flake graphite randomly dispersed in ferrite matrix which is typical of slowly cooled grey cast iron. In contrast, flake graphite was absent in virtually all drop-tube samples even those with modest cooling rate. The evolved microstructure clearly shows the effect of cooling rate on the transformation from the conventional to rapidly solidified droplet particles in terms of microsegregation

Preparation, Release Pattern And Antibacterial Activities Of Chitosan-Silver Nanocomposite Film

The present study examined the preparation of chitosan-silver nanocomposite film as carriers for silver release pattern. Chitosan, a biopolymer having immense structural possibilities for chemical and mechanical modifications to generate novel properties, functions and applications. Chitosan – silver nanocomposite has been synthesized by simple chemical reduction method, which is a simple and an inexpensive method. The chitosan-silver (crosslinked) nanocomposite film was characterized in terms of their surface plasmon resonance and crystalline structure by using UV-Visible spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared and Scanning electron microscope. Swelling and release studies were carried out on the nanocomposite film. Antibacterial activities of chitosan-silver nanocomposite film were investigated on human pathogens: Staphylococcus aureus, Shigella dysenteriae, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhii and Klebsiella pneumonia using agar well diffusion method. Chitosan-silver (crosslinked) demonstrated a slower release pattern relative to silver-chitosan (uncrosslinked); both became dislodged and completely released at 120 minutes and 90 minutes respectively. The results of the antibacterial activities revealed that the cross-linked nanocomposite film has higher antibacterial properties than the close component. This study provides novel nanocomposite film potentially useful for drug delivery

Estate surveyors and valuers’ perception and methods of wetland valuation in Lagos metropolis

The study examined the relationship between Estate Surveyors and Values’ perception and wetland valuation method(s). A total of 267 questionnaires were administered on the respondents out of which 163 (representing 61%) were retrieved and used for the study analysis. Both descriptive and inferential statistical tools were used in the analysis of the data. The study hypothesis was tested, using regression analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and coefficient of determination. The hypothesis showed that, there is no statistically significant relationship between Estate Surveyors and Value’s perception and the method(s) used in wetland valuation. With R2 value of 0.026, F-ratio of 0.084 and P>0.05 indicates that Estate Surveyors and Value’s perception does not really affect the approaches used in valuing wetlands. This could have emanated from the fact the respondents neither have any training in environmental valuation either in school or at the professional examinations. It is thereby recommended that NIESV and ESVARBON should encourage more workshops on wetland (environmental) valuation in addition to its inclusion in the professional syllabus as it is the current practice in higher institutions offering estate management courses

PHENOTYPIC CHARACTERIZATION AND IN VITRO SCREENING OF LACTIC ACID BACTERIA FROM GOAT MILK FOR PROBIOTIC USE

A study was carried out to isolate and identify probiotic Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from milk of West African Dwarf (WAD) goats. Fifty LAB strains were isolated from WAD goat milks and tested for in- vitro antibiotics susceptibility, tolerance to bile, resistance to low pH values and haemolytic activity. Sixteen isolates were found to possess probiotic characteristics and these isolates were identified as Lactobacillus plantarum (44%), L. acidophilus (38%) and L. fermentum (18%). These isolates were resistant to most of antibiotics tested, showed the survivability (8.00 ± 0.05 to 72.60 ± 0.1%) at high bile acid concentration and resistance to pH 1.5 (0.00 to 46.00 ± 0.2%), pH 2.0 (30.60 ± 0.15 to 63.00 ± 0.6%) and pH 2.5 (48.60 ± 0.03 to 85.20 ± 0.6 %). None of the LAB isolates produced hemolysin. Among the probiotic isolates, Lactobacillus acidophilus displayed strong bile acid and low pH tolerance, followed by Lactobacillus plantarum. From the results obtained, L. acidophilus and L. plantarum could be used as probiotic starter cultures for fermented dairy foods as well as feed additives in livestock production due to high tolerance to high bile and acidic medium.Â