NLC Secretariat Sealed For Structural Evaluation -Expert

Amidst questions over why the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Secretariat was sealed last Sunday, a Structural Engineer, Barry Mark Akata has stated that it was necessary at this point to carry out Structural Integrity Evaluation (SIE) of the building.
Making this known to newsmen today at the premises of the sealed facility, Akata said it is for that purpose he was there to commence work.
“I am here to carry out SIE of the building. By this, we are trying to look at the structural defects on the building in order to ascertain whether the building is safe, and in a stable condition”, he said.
He continued that “this evaluation is always done mostly within a period of 6 to 12 months after construction. The main reason is that in contract administration there’s what we call 5% retention. That 5% retention is always held back from the contractor to take care of any defect after construction”.
According to him, this 5% can only be paid to the contractor at the expiration of what he called “Defect Reliability Period” if the building does not experience any defects within the first six to twelve months of putting a structure into use.
Akata, who is a Structural Consultant to the Bureau for Special Projects (BSP), explained that considering the fact that the building was commissioned and handed over to the NLC for use since June 2019, making it about eight months, it was due for SIE test.
He said the contractor also reported of a defect noticed in the building, thus making it mandatory to carry out the test at this point, before the contractor was paid his balance of 5%.
Beyond this, he said the contractor “also sent a letter to BSP notifying us of some defects, meaning that we have to look at this defect. This is because it is a well known fact that buildings collapse.
“Considering that this is a public building, if there’s anything like failure, or collapse, many human souls may go with it. To avoid this, we have to carry out this SIE so we can at least prevent any of such occurrence”, he said.
On why the building would have to be put in use before carrying out SIE, he stated that it is so to enable the structure being loaded with the required weight to enable them ascertain how the structure would take the load.
On his part, the Special Adviser to the Rivers State Governor on Special Projects, Dakorinama A. George-Kelly, stated that the sole reason for embarking on the SIE test is ensure the safety of Rivers People, as represented by members of the NLC.
He stated that the sealing of the premises on Sunday was necessitated by the urgency of the matter, noting that he made efforts to get in touch with the NLC Chairperson, but her phone wasn’t going through.