Unethical Geotechnical Practice, Building Collapse and Failure of Infrastructures in Nigeria: <i>A Call for Separate Geotechnical Consultant on Infrastructural</i> <i>Projects</i>

Moshood Niyi Tijani; Fidelis Ankwo Abija

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ae.20220602.12

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Unethical Geotechnical Practice, Building Collapse and Failure of Infrastructures in Nigeria: A Call for Separate Geotechnical Consultant on Infrastructural Projects

Moshood Niyi Tijani, Fidelis Ankwo Abija

Published in Applied Engineering (Volume 6, Issue 2)

Received: 29 November 2021 Accepted: 10 January 2022 Published: 29 September 2022

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Abstract

All structures are founded either on or in soil or rock and design of all engineering structures is based on material properties. The alarming increase in the incidences of building collapse in Nigeria can be linked to the failure of foundation soils, apart from poor quality of construction materials in some cases. Under a structure, a foundation footing column can rest on a firm subgrade while another can be founded on a weak, highly compressible and collapsible soil. Hence, subsurface lithologic profile of the soils underlying a structure is important for safe design and sustainable infrastructure. In the Niger Delta region, correlation of the borehole logs revealed occurrence of peat and peaty clays from the ground surface to a depth ranging from 1.5 – 10m and can extend up to 35 – 42m. Under such geological condition, knowledge of the origin and implicitly the behaviour of the soil under different conditions of saturation; and seasonal wetting and drying cycles; and their implications on structural settlement, material composition of the structure and effects on corrosion etc. are required for safe and economic design. The designer of every project therefore expects minimum specified properties from the geotechnical investigation and interpretation of the results since design is fit to purpose and in-situ soil or rock cannot be changed except being improved upon. Therefore, in the wake of a number of reported cases of professional incompetence and unethical geotechnical practices, a good geotechnical investigation report should provide the soil lithologic profile, basic engineering geological properties and their interpretations with recommendations and design implications including ground control conditions during construction. This study highlights that Geotechnical Consultant should be assigned to all infrastructural development projects in the Nigerian construction industry.

Published in	Applied Engineering (Volume 6, Issue 2)
DOI	10.11648/j.ae.20220602.12
Page(s)	39-49
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Profession, Engineering Geology, Geotechnics, Ethical Practices, Design Requirements, Geotechnical Consultant

References

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[7]	Blyth, F. G. and de Freitas, M. H. (1982). A Geology for Engineers, 7th edn. Oxford: Butterwoth -Heineman, Imprint of Elsevier, 325 pages.
[8]	Al-Ani, H., Oh, E. and Chai, G. (2013). Characteristics of embedded peat in coastal environments. Int. J. of GEOMATE, Sept., 2013, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Sl. No. 9), pp. 610-619 Geotech., Const. Mat. & Env.
[9]	Tong, T. I., Felix, N. L. L., Mohd, S. and Sulaeman, A. (2015). Characterization of Soil Organic Matter in Peat Soil with Different Humification Levels using FTIR. Soft Soil Engineering International Conference 2015 (SEIC2015) IOP Publishing IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 136 (2016) 012010 doi: 10.1088/1757-899X/136/1/012010. Pp. 1-8.
[10]	Adnan, Z, Wijeyesekera, D. C and Masirin, M. I. M. (2007) Comparative Study of Malaysian Peat and British Peat Pertaining to Geotechnical Properties. In Proceedings of Sri Lankan geotechnical Society’s First International Conference on Soil and rock Engineering, 5-11 August 2007, ed. Pinnaduwa H. S. W, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
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[15]	Abija, F. A., Nwosu, J. I., Ifedotun, A. I. and Osadebe, C. C. (2019b). Landslide susceptibility assessment of Calabar, Nigeria using Geotechnical, Remote Sensing and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis: Implications for urban planning and development. Journal of Earth Sciences & Environmental Studies 4 (6) p: 774-788.
[16]	Look, B. (2006). Handbook of geotechnical investigations and design tables. London: Taylor and Francis. 356 pages.
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[18]	Murthy, V. N. S. (2012). Murthy, V. N. S. (2012). Textbook of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering. New Delhi: CBS Publishers and Distributors PVT Ltd 1043 pages.
[19]	Akpokodje, E. G. (2017). Sustainability of structures and environment: challenges for engineering geology professionals in the 21st century. Proceedings of the first and second international conferences of the Nigerian association for Engineering Geology and the environment, Lagos, Nigeria, 2016 and 2017.
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APA Style

Moshood Niyi Tijani, Fidelis Ankwo Abija. (2022). Unethical Geotechnical Practice, Building Collapse and Failure of Infrastructures in Nigeria: A Call for Separate Geotechnical Consultant on Infrastructural Projects. Applied Engineering, 6(2), 39-49. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ae.20220602.12

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Moshood Niyi Tijani; Fidelis Ankwo Abija. Unethical Geotechnical Practice, Building Collapse and Failure of Infrastructures in Nigeria: A Call for Separate Geotechnical Consultant on Infrastructural Projects. Appl. Eng. 2022, 6(2), 39-49. doi: 10.11648/j.ae.20220602.12

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AMA Style

Moshood Niyi Tijani, Fidelis Ankwo Abija. Unethical Geotechnical Practice, Building Collapse and Failure of Infrastructures in Nigeria: A Call for Separate Geotechnical Consultant on Infrastructural Projects. Appl Eng. 2022;6(2):39-49. doi: 10.11648/j.ae.20220602.12

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@article{10.11648/j.ae.20220602.12,
  author = {Moshood Niyi Tijani and Fidelis Ankwo Abija},
  title = {Unethical Geotechnical Practice, Building Collapse and Failure of Infrastructures in Nigeria: A Call for Separate Geotechnical Consultant on Infrastructural Projects},
  journal = {Applied Engineering},
  volume = {6},
  number = {2},
  pages = {39-49},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ae.20220602.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ae.20220602.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ae.20220602.12},
  abstract = {All structures are founded either on or in soil or rock and design of all engineering structures is based on material properties. The alarming increase in the incidences of building collapse in Nigeria can be linked to the failure of foundation soils, apart from poor quality of construction materials in some cases. Under a structure, a foundation footing column can rest on a firm subgrade while another can be founded on a weak, highly compressible and collapsible soil. Hence, subsurface lithologic profile of the soils underlying a structure is important for safe design and sustainable infrastructure. In the Niger Delta region, correlation of the borehole logs revealed occurrence of peat and peaty clays from the ground surface to a depth ranging from 1.5 – 10m and can extend up to 35 – 42m. Under such geological condition, knowledge of the origin and implicitly the behaviour of the soil under different conditions of saturation; and seasonal wetting and drying cycles; and their implications on structural settlement, material composition of the structure and effects on corrosion etc. are required for safe and economic design. The designer of every project therefore expects minimum specified properties from the geotechnical investigation and interpretation of the results since design is fit to purpose and in-situ soil or rock cannot be changed except being improved upon. Therefore, in the wake of a number of reported cases of professional incompetence and unethical geotechnical practices, a good geotechnical investigation report should provide the soil lithologic profile, basic engineering geological properties and their interpretations with recommendations and design implications including ground control conditions during construction. This study highlights that Geotechnical Consultant should be assigned to all infrastructural development projects in the Nigerian construction industry.},
 year = {2022}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Unethical Geotechnical Practice, Building Collapse and Failure of Infrastructures in Nigeria: A Call for Separate Geotechnical Consultant on Infrastructural Projects
AU  - Moshood Niyi Tijani
AU  - Fidelis Ankwo Abija
Y1  - 2022/09/29
PY  - 2022
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ae.20220602.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.ae.20220602.12
T2  - Applied Engineering
JF  - Applied Engineering
JO  - Applied Engineering
SP  - 39
EP  - 49
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2994-7456
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ae.20220602.12
AB  - All structures are founded either on or in soil or rock and design of all engineering structures is based on material properties. The alarming increase in the incidences of building collapse in Nigeria can be linked to the failure of foundation soils, apart from poor quality of construction materials in some cases. Under a structure, a foundation footing column can rest on a firm subgrade while another can be founded on a weak, highly compressible and collapsible soil. Hence, subsurface lithologic profile of the soils underlying a structure is important for safe design and sustainable infrastructure. In the Niger Delta region, correlation of the borehole logs revealed occurrence of peat and peaty clays from the ground surface to a depth ranging from 1.5 – 10m and can extend up to 35 – 42m. Under such geological condition, knowledge of the origin and implicitly the behaviour of the soil under different conditions of saturation; and seasonal wetting and drying cycles; and their implications on structural settlement, material composition of the structure and effects on corrosion etc. are required for safe and economic design. The designer of every project therefore expects minimum specified properties from the geotechnical investigation and interpretation of the results since design is fit to purpose and in-situ soil or rock cannot be changed except being improved upon. Therefore, in the wake of a number of reported cases of professional incompetence and unethical geotechnical practices, a good geotechnical investigation report should provide the soil lithologic profile, basic engineering geological properties and their interpretations with recommendations and design implications including ground control conditions during construction. This study highlights that Geotechnical Consultant should be assigned to all infrastructural development projects in the Nigerian construction industry.
VL  - 6
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Author Information

Moshood Niyi Tijani

Department of Geology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
Fidelis Ankwo Abija

Department of Geology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria

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APA Style

Moshood Niyi Tijani, Fidelis Ankwo Abija. (2022). Unethical Geotechnical Practice, Building Collapse and Failure of Infrastructures in Nigeria: A Call for Separate Geotechnical Consultant on Infrastructural Projects. Applied Engineering, 6(2), 39-49. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ae.20220602.12

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ACS Style

Moshood Niyi Tijani; Fidelis Ankwo Abija. Unethical Geotechnical Practice, Building Collapse and Failure of Infrastructures in Nigeria: A Call for Separate Geotechnical Consultant on Infrastructural Projects. Appl. Eng. 2022, 6(2), 39-49. doi: 10.11648/j.ae.20220602.12

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AMA Style

Moshood Niyi Tijani, Fidelis Ankwo Abija. Unethical Geotechnical Practice, Building Collapse and Failure of Infrastructures in Nigeria: A Call for Separate Geotechnical Consultant on Infrastructural Projects. Appl Eng. 2022;6(2):39-49. doi: 10.11648/j.ae.20220602.12

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@article{10.11648/j.ae.20220602.12,
  author = {Moshood Niyi Tijani and Fidelis Ankwo Abija},
  title = {Unethical Geotechnical Practice, Building Collapse and Failure of Infrastructures in Nigeria: A Call for Separate Geotechnical Consultant on Infrastructural Projects},
  journal = {Applied Engineering},
  volume = {6},
  number = {2},
  pages = {39-49},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ae.20220602.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ae.20220602.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ae.20220602.12},
  abstract = {All structures are founded either on or in soil or rock and design of all engineering structures is based on material properties. The alarming increase in the incidences of building collapse in Nigeria can be linked to the failure of foundation soils, apart from poor quality of construction materials in some cases. Under a structure, a foundation footing column can rest on a firm subgrade while another can be founded on a weak, highly compressible and collapsible soil. Hence, subsurface lithologic profile of the soils underlying a structure is important for safe design and sustainable infrastructure. In the Niger Delta region, correlation of the borehole logs revealed occurrence of peat and peaty clays from the ground surface to a depth ranging from 1.5 – 10m and can extend up to 35 – 42m. Under such geological condition, knowledge of the origin and implicitly the behaviour of the soil under different conditions of saturation; and seasonal wetting and drying cycles; and their implications on structural settlement, material composition of the structure and effects on corrosion etc. are required for safe and economic design. The designer of every project therefore expects minimum specified properties from the geotechnical investigation and interpretation of the results since design is fit to purpose and in-situ soil or rock cannot be changed except being improved upon. Therefore, in the wake of a number of reported cases of professional incompetence and unethical geotechnical practices, a good geotechnical investigation report should provide the soil lithologic profile, basic engineering geological properties and their interpretations with recommendations and design implications including ground control conditions during construction. This study highlights that Geotechnical Consultant should be assigned to all infrastructural development projects in the Nigerian construction industry.},
 year = {2022}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Unethical Geotechnical Practice, Building Collapse and Failure of Infrastructures in Nigeria: A Call for Separate Geotechnical Consultant on Infrastructural Projects
AU  - Moshood Niyi Tijani
AU  - Fidelis Ankwo Abija
Y1  - 2022/09/29
PY  - 2022
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ae.20220602.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.ae.20220602.12
T2  - Applied Engineering
JF  - Applied Engineering
JO  - Applied Engineering
SP  - 39
EP  - 49
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2994-7456
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ae.20220602.12
AB  - All structures are founded either on or in soil or rock and design of all engineering structures is based on material properties. The alarming increase in the incidences of building collapse in Nigeria can be linked to the failure of foundation soils, apart from poor quality of construction materials in some cases. Under a structure, a foundation footing column can rest on a firm subgrade while another can be founded on a weak, highly compressible and collapsible soil. Hence, subsurface lithologic profile of the soils underlying a structure is important for safe design and sustainable infrastructure. In the Niger Delta region, correlation of the borehole logs revealed occurrence of peat and peaty clays from the ground surface to a depth ranging from 1.5 – 10m and can extend up to 35 – 42m. Under such geological condition, knowledge of the origin and implicitly the behaviour of the soil under different conditions of saturation; and seasonal wetting and drying cycles; and their implications on structural settlement, material composition of the structure and effects on corrosion etc. are required for safe and economic design. The designer of every project therefore expects minimum specified properties from the geotechnical investigation and interpretation of the results since design is fit to purpose and in-situ soil or rock cannot be changed except being improved upon. Therefore, in the wake of a number of reported cases of professional incompetence and unethical geotechnical practices, a good geotechnical investigation report should provide the soil lithologic profile, basic engineering geological properties and their interpretations with recommendations and design implications including ground control conditions during construction. This study highlights that Geotechnical Consultant should be assigned to all infrastructural development projects in the Nigerian construction industry.
VL  - 6
IS  - 2
ER  -

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