By Lilian Chukwu
Lagos – Mr Chucks Omeife, a former President of Nigeria Institute of Building (NIOB), on Friday called for periodic upgrading and rehabilitation of infrastructure across the country to increase their life span.
Omeife made the call while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
He said that facilities like roads, bridges, canals and drainage were usually over stretched with urban growth and were often left unattended to over the years.
Omeife said that most of the facilities in big cities like Lagos, Port-Harcourt, Kano and Ibadan were already over stretched.
“Irrespective of over stretch or usage of these facilities due to urban growth, the facilities can still stand the test of time and serve their purposes if properly maintained, upgraded and rehabilitated when necessary,’’ he said.
Omeife said that buildings also required the same periodic maintenance and renovation at least between intervals of five to eight years to ensure their structural stability.
He said that periodic maintenance of infrastructure could help to control and avert the incidence of collapse.
“At intervals, the pipes, wires, roofs and other components of a building need to be changed and a complete renovation of the building being carried out.
“This will have great impact on a building and can help to elongate its life span,’’ he said.
Omeife said that some of the strategic plans in urban renewal were re-planning, slum eradication and creation and development of new towns.
According to him, these should be recurring programmes in fast growing cities like Lagos, Port-Harcourt and Abuja where new town development schemes are needed.
Omeife suggested that other states should start such development programmes to attract more people into the states.
He said that such development projects would help to de-congest the over-crowded city centres and reduce usage of facilities.
