Nigeria’s construction sector accounts for around 5% of national GDP and grew by 6.2% year-on-year in Q1 2025, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
Yet the buildings we live, work and trade in are not consistently safe.
Protecting lives and safeguarding investment requires treating building safety as a core governance priority, not an afterthought.
In the past seven weeks, building failures have been recorded in Lagos, Awka (Anambra) and Aba (Abia), with lives lost and surrounding communities affected. In one recent Lagos case, a building undergoing demolition collapsed, resulting in fatalities. These incidents are not isolated. The Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG) has documented about 679 collapses and over 1,639 deaths in Nigeria since the 1970s.
This continues against the backdrop of a substantial infrastructure financing gap. The World Bank Group estimates that Nigeria requires around $100 billion in annual infrastructure investment to meet demand. Without clearer construction rules and enforceable safety standards, project risks increase, financing becomes more expensive and capital is deterred.
This is not just a safety crisis; it’s an investability crisis
Every collapse reflects weak oversight and fragmented accountability. These failures raise project risk, drive up insurance and financing costs, and make both domestic and foreign investors hesitate. For developers and contractors, delayed payments and unresolved disputes choke cash flow and heighten insolvency risk. For everyday Nigerians, they erode a basic expectation: that the buildings we live, work and learn in should be safe.
Capital goes where rules are predictable. Markets consistently favour jurisdictions that enforce safety standards, guarantee timely payment with quick dispute resolution, and maintain credible systems to assess contractor competence. Where these conditions exist, risk reduces, financing becomes cheaper and project delivery becomes more reliable. That is the stability Nigeria needs.
The global lesson is clear
South Africa offers a clear starting point. Through the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), contractors are registered and graded based on proven capacity, and those grades determine which projects they may undertake. This raises competence, filters out shell companies, and ties responsibility to track record.
Building on that, the United Kingdom’s Construction Act and security-of-payment regimes in Australia and Singapore changed how conflict is managed. These frameworks enforce payment discipline, set clear timelines for certification and payment, permit lawful suspension for non-payment, and provide fast, interim adjudication so disagreements are resolved while projects continue rather than collapsing into litigation.
Across these markets, the outcome is consistent: safe buildings, fewer insolvencies, shorter dispute cycles, more predictable delivery, and stronger investor confidence. Capital flows more easily where rules are clear and consistently enforced. For Nigeria, this points to a single, modern statute that hard-wires contractor competence, payment discipline, safety, and governance into everyday practice.
A Nigerian Construction Act — five co-equal pillars
That statute is the Nigerian Construction Act. It can be built on five practical and mutually reinforcing pillars: Contractor Registration and Grading; Health, Safety and Environment; Governance and Anti-Corruption; Payment and Adjudication; and Skills Transfer and Local Content — a framework now widely recognised in the press and public policy discussions as the Aderibigbe Five Pillars.
Together, these pillars create a coherent system. Contractor grading ensures that only firms with proven capacity and track record take on higher-risk work. Enforceable safety requirements make safe construction a legal duty, not a matter of discretion. Stronger governance and disclosure reduce waste and close the loopholes that enable procurement abuse.
Payment certainty and rapid dispute resolution keep cash flowing so projects continue rather than stall in litigation. And structured skills transfer ensures that Nigerian professionals are trained, retained and empowered as the sector grows. In combination, these measures produce safer buildings, lower project risk and a market that rewards competence rather than connections.
Why this matters to investors
Clear rules make projects easier to finance. When safety is enforced and competent supervision is guaranteed, catastrophic failures become less likely. When payment timelines are clear and disputes are resolved quickly, contractors remain liquid and projects stay on schedule.
When contractor records, safety performance and regulatory actions are publicly available, lenders and investors can price risk accurately rather than rely on personal assurances. The result is lower project uncertainty, faster deal execution and stronger confidence from both domestic and international capital. In short, predictable rules make projects bankable.
What “good” looks like in practice
Reform does not need to be complex. A Nigerian Construction Act could begin with a short transition: publish the framework, consult industry and finance partners, pilot fast-track adjudication on selected public projects, and establish a national contractor register in phases.
As capacity builds, the rules would extend to larger private developments. This approach is realistic because competent firms already maintain safety systems, insurance, and quality assurance; the Act simply levels the field so that compliant firms are not undercut by unsafe operators. Clear rules do not slow construction—they reduce uncertainty, accelerate payment cycles, and make financing cheaper. The status quo already imposes higher costs in rework, disputes and risk premia; rules-based reform is cheaper.
The stakes
Every building collapse is first a human tragedy, not a statistic. But each one also damages confidence, delays investment and widens our infrastructure financing gap. Nigeria does not lack the expertise or the comparative evidence; what has been missing is a unified framework that aligns responsibility and enforcement. A Nigerian Construction Act built on the aforementioned five pillars would not be another policy document. It would be the mechanism that makes safety enforceable, improves project delivery and restores trust in the built environment. It is the logical next step in Nigeria’s development journey—our next freedom.
Author’s bio
Abiola Aderibigbe is a British-Nigerian lawyer, academic and international consultant (PhD candidate) with multi-sector expertise across construction, energy, infrastructure and engineering. He serves as General Counsel for organisations across the UK, EU, North America and Africa; leads the LLM in International Construction Law for Liverpool John Moores University and Informa Connect; is Faculty Director at the Chartered Institute of Professional Certifications and Course Director with the International Faculty of Finance (Informa Connect).
He is Regional Editor (West Africa) at Africa Construction Law and an Academic Reviewer for the University of Cape Town’s Journal of Construction Business & Management. He has worked with multinational construction & engineering companies like Mott MacDonald, Balfour Beatty, Yondr Group and METKA EGN, and has delivered training for Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, a leading Nigerian construction firm.
