CHAPTER ONE
1.0        GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.1    Background of the Study
    Buildings are constructed primarily to meet one of the human physical needs. Aside feeding, shelter is the next paramount thing in human life in the hierarchy of human want. Building provides accommodation for everyman, his belongings, pet and other of his living and non-living goods and equipment needed for his daily living apart from meeting the need of shelter, building also provide a form of environmental satisfaction to man both mentally and psychologically.
    According to Jinadu, (1996) in his book Understanding the Basis of Housing, “building is a form of shelter comprising of the main structural element such as foundation, wall, floor, door, window and the roof structure.” A building must be adequately designed and efficiently constructed in such a way that its provides expected conditions compatible and appropriate for the activities to be carried out within it on completion, and also ensure the comfort, piracy and safety of the occupant. The materials with which the building is constructed must satisfy basic functional requirement of weather resistance, thermal insulation, fire resistance, sound insulation, strength and stability, durability and resistance to wear and tear. (Awe, 2007).
    It is obvious that building collapse does not suddenly happened; rather there should be symptoms preceding the occurrence of such collapse. Consequently, those with poor foundation quickly manifested with damp walls up to the second floor level. The question is, how long will the building last before they sink or collapse? Perhaps most developers and builders after the madly rushing to erect structures in some parts of the nation, without taking into cognizance the aquatic soil structure, buildings were erected on poor foundations. Today, these buildings have manifested serious structural defect. They are all sinking, cracking, collapsing or standing precariously awaiting demolition.
The efforts being made to prevent collapse of building was asserted by the Nigerian Council for Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) in conjunction with the Nigerian Institute of Builders (NIOB), has concluded plans to check those incessant building collapse in Nigerian, rescue workers battled always to reach those still trapped in the wreckage of the collapsed building. The leader of the Red Cross team in charge of most rescued mission in every collapsed building says that the rescue effort have been severely hampered by lack of finance and adequate manpower and equipments. Adeola (2008) says many building in Nigeria were constructed with sub-standard materials and building regulation/codes were not followed.
Alao (2008), the ministry for Environment, Housing and Urban Development has charged professionals in the building industry to insist on proper application of building code in construction. She said that “Government effort was geared towards providing shelter for all Nigerians she then urged with the council to place premium on engaging proficient and well trained builders to manage all building projects.” The minister reiterated the need for the investing public to familiarize themselves with code to safe guide their building.
1.2        STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM
Unfortunately, nowadays, buildings are erected indiscriminately due to the increase in the demand for building. The unbridled show of wealth and affluence by many Nigerians is a cankerworm eating up the fabrics of our society. Hence, it is possible for one to acquire marshy land and bribe his way through a host of officials in the planning authority. This makes it possible for the building to be erected without the due approval of the plan. Besides, monitoring and evaluation of the construction and materials used are not done. At the end, there is no official record of the building in the ministry database. The owner may not even be known, since the entire actions from the beginning to the end were corruptly carried out.
    The recent collapse of building in Ilorin metropolis led us to study why these buildings are collapsing and problems associated with the collapse of such buildings.
    Hence, the purpose of the research work, it is time to correct the poor development giving the frequency of these ugly disasters and the agony been caused to families and property owners
1.3        AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The aim of this research is to examine the cause and problems of building collapse in Nigeria. To achieve the above, the following specific objectives were considered:
1.    To identify the problems emanating from building collapse
2.    To examine the effects of building collapse on the building construction industry
3.    To proffer solution to the identifies causes and problems