Why buildings fail in Nigeria: what the collapse record shows

On 1 November 2021 a 21-storey residential tower under construction on Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, collapsed. Reported deaths rose over the following week to between 44 and 46, among them the developer (ThisDay, November 2021; Ripples Nigeria). It remains the most cited building failure in recent Nigerian history, and the official response to it is instructive.

Within days the record was in dispute. The general manager of the Lagos State Building Control Agency said the developer had approval for 15 floors, not 21, while the deputy governor said the approval covered 21 (Peoples Gazette; 21st Century Chronicle, November 2021). The governor suspended the agency's general manager and set up a six-member independent panel, which submitted its report on 5 January 2022. Its published conclusion was that the collapse resulted from "the erosion of professional ethics and due diligence" (Sahara Reporters, January 2022).

Ikoyi was not an isolated case. The Building Collapse Prevention Guild, which keeps the most complete public tally, counts 659 collapses and about 1,621 deaths in Nigeria between October 1974 and June 2025, with Lagos accounting for 55.1% of incidents (News Agency of Nigeria, July 2025). Its yearly counts were 62 collapses in 2022, the highest it has recorded, 52 in 2023 and 47 in 2024, the last spread across 14 states with 13 in Lagos (Prime Business Africa, June 2025). The Guild counts reported incidents only.

Research on the causes keeps reaching the same answer. A 2025 study of 30 collapses in the Federal Capital Territory, which together caused at least 57 deaths, ranked substandard building materials first, followed by structural failure, the use of unqualified builders, poor or absent supervision, and missing geotechnical investigation (Akuboh and Aimola, 2025). A survey of construction professionals in Lagos State found substandard materials to be the most important quality-related cause (Imafidon and Ogbu, 2020).

Testing tells the same story when it is carried out. Speaking in May 2026 about a recent collapse in the Gaduwa district of Abuja, the Registrar of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria said concrete specified to reach a strength of 25 N/mm² had tested at 18 (Leadership, May 2026).

Each of these failure points has a regulator: state building control agencies for approvals and stage inspections, COREN for the engineers who design and supervise, and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria for materials. Goldyn's reading of the record is that most of these failures could be caught during construction, by registered professionals testing materials and checking the structure against its approved drawings before the next stage is poured.