Grief and uncertainty still hang over Aba after part of the Ekeoha Shopping Complex reportedly gave way during renovation on 21 October 2025. Families are searching for missing loved ones as emergency teams continue work at the scene. While early reports spoke of casualties, figures remain unconfirmed. The project concessionaire later described the event as a “temporary props failure” during works rather than a full structural collapse.

“My heart goes out to everyone affected by the Ekeoha incident in Aba,” said Abiola Aderibigbe, an expert whose built-environment work spans construction, energy, infrastructure, engineering and oil & gas internationally.

“Families are dealing with fear and uncertainty. Moments like this demand compassion and a sober focus on prevention.”

Aderibigbe has long argued that Nigeria needs a Nigerian Construction Act, a single statutory framework to unify standards and make safety an enforceable duty across all projects. His model rests on five pillars: contractor registration and grading; enforceable health, safety and environmental (HSE) standards; governance and anti-corruption safeguards; statutory payment timelines with adjudication; and skills transfer tied to local content.

“Whether investigators classify what happened in Aba as a structural failure or a temporary works failure, incidents like this should not be happening,” he said. “Unfortunately we are still treating site safety as optional instead of a legal duty.”

Explaining the Health Safety and Environmental pillar of his proposed Construction Act, Aderibigbe said qualifying sites should operate with legally enforceable safety plans, independent design checks and named competent roles including certified Temporary Works Coordinators, alongside permit-to-load/strike procedures and recorded daily inspections. “Our problem is not a lack of rules,” he added. “It is fragmented enforcement. The National Building Code exists, but without a statutory anchor, compliance varies. A Construction Act would fix that.”

He added that grading and registration would ensure only competent contractors handle higher-risk work. “Grading without enforceable Health, Safety and Environmental duties is form without substance. The 5 pillars are meant to work together to ensure competence, safety, clean procurement, reliable payments and skills.”

Aderibigbe noted that he had previously commended Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s August call for a unified building code, describing it as a useful and timely step in focusing national attention on construction and building safety. He said the conversation must now progress to national legislation unifying standards across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). “A single statute would move the country from reacting to collapses to preventing them and would improve investor confidence across construction, energy and infrastructure,” he said.

Aderibigbe once more commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the renewed investor confidence signalled by Shell’s $2 billion Final Investment Decision, explaining that major investors respond to credible policy. “His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has been instrumental in unlocking investment and advancing reforms that improve ease of doing business and revenue mobilization,” Aderibigbe then said. “In that spirit, I would humbly and respectfully urge His Excellency to please champion a Nigerian Construction Act that puts saving lives, construction and building safety at the forefront of this reform agenda.”

Independent has followed Aderibigbe’s advocacy in recent weeks from profiles of his push for a Construction Act to pieces on contractor grading and broader calls to make safety a national priority, situating his ideas within a continuing public conversation on reform.

As investigations continue in Abia, Aderibigbe called for empathy and restraint. “There will be time to assign causes once investigators report,” he said. “Right now the priority is the people directly affected, followed by the reforms that stop this pattern from repeating.” He added: “In construction, building safety means saving lives.” (Daily Independent)