The stakeholders in construction industry have fated the use of immature timber for roof construction as it is identified to be one of the causes of subsequent building collapse all over the country. Stakeholders who came together under the auspices of builders, engineers, estate surveyors, land surveyors, quantity surveyors, architects, politicians, policy makers, government officials, sawmillers and carpenters in Oko-Baba Sawmill on Lagos Mainland, stated this spoke at a forum organized by Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG).

The urged the government at all levels to embark on urgent large-scale tree regeneration and forestation programmes to overcome scarcity of mature timber, adding that it would be a wise preparation for the future. The forum with the theme “Timber as an Endangered Material in the Nigerian Construction Industry”, seeks to address issues such as wrong quotation for timber by carpenters, inappropriate measurement of planks by saw-millers, cutting corner habit on the part of contractors and building owners. Mr Jide Jimoh, a member of Lagos State House of Representatives, who was the chairman of the occasion urged the stakeholders to find a lasting solution to the problem of timber in construction industry.

Professor Labode Popoola, President of Forest Association of Nigeria, lamented high rate of deforestation in the country, adding that matured trees have been cut down, while illegal lumbering has denied government the expected revenue from forest. He noted that 400,000 hectares of land have been lost to shifting cultivation, adding that signs of endangered timber includes; high extraction cost, high rent or royalty, high number of logs loaded by trucks, high price of resource commodity and distance travel. The President of BCPG, Mr. Kunle Awobodu pointed out that timber sizes specified in the Bill of Quantities are at times, at conflict with what is obtainable in the market, calling for the problem be addressed by the stakeholders.