Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan A professor of Environmental and Engineering Geology at the University of Ibadan, Ibrahim Oyediran, yesterday, said engineering geologists are vital to prevent building collapse and mitigate the environmental impact of construction activities in Nigeria. This was as he lamented that Nigeria as a country has gotten to a stage where it cannot continue to pay lip service to the vital role played by Engineering Geologists in the delivery of sustainable structures. He stated this yesterday while delivering a valedictory lecture in honour of Prof.
Gabriel Oladapo Adeyemi, who retired from the service of the University of Ibadan after clocking 70 years. Oyediran, who spoke on the topic, “Engineering Geology and the Sustainability of Structures and the Environment: The Edunabon Manuscripts,” noted that Nigerian roads keep failing and buildings continue to collapse because the country refuses to consider the environment in the placement of structures. “Our roads keep failing, our buildings keep coming down, and we refuse to consider the environment in the emplacement of structures.
We design beautiful structures without recourse to material suitability, bearing capacity, environmental impact, and sustainability. “We have no value for human life and place more premium on quantity rather than quality. How do we walk and move forward when we have refused to crawl and take care of the basics,” he said.
While noting that not all buildings collapse due to ma.