Don charges FG, companies to enforce rights-based standards

Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD) and Professor of International Law, Damilola Olawuyi (SAN) have called on governments and business enterprises to adopt and enforce rights-based standards in urban development and urban planning to promote the escalating threat of building collapse in Nigeria and across Africa.

The Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who is also the Global Vice President of the International Law Association, made this call during the Oxford Urbanist Africa webinar series where he was the featured guest speaker.

The webinar series is designed to address contemporary urban challenges across Africa with innovative solutions through interdisciplinary and practical insights from leading scientists and industry leaders.

The event was moderated by Dr. Xi (Sisi) Hu, a program officer at Harvard Law School, United States, who praised and thanked Distinguished Lecturer, Professor Olawuyi, SAN for his continued leadership and commitment to climate and energy justice around the world. , especially in Africa.

In the discussion, Olawuyi lamented that Nigeria had become the continent’s “building collapse capital”.

According to him, with more than 200 building collapses in recent years in various Nigerian cities, Nigeria ranks number one in Africa in the frequency and intensity of collapses.

Olawuyi noted that while several factors such as design and construction flaws, the use of substandard building materials, unskilled and unskilled labor, and weak enforcement of urban planning laws are responsible for this recurrent problem, a critical yet under-explored cause is the impact of climate change on the integrity and long-term resilience of buildings in general.

“Climate change is expected to exacerbate the frequency and intensity of infrastructure collapse around the world, including Nigeria.

“There is therefore an urgent need to develop clear and comprehensive national roadmaps for the development of climate-resilient infrastructure to better anticipate and address the impacts of climate change on the integrity and resilience of our cities and societies.” He said

Damilola also pointed to the urgent need to underpin such national strategies and roadmaps with human rights standards.

“A rights-based approach to urban development requires the holistic integration of five fundamental human rights principles (the PANEL Principles): public participation, accountability, non-discrimination and equality; Empowerment and access to information; Legality and access to justice – in the design, approval, financing and implementation of urban development projects to address the adverse environmental, social and governance (ESG) impacts of green gentrification, mass housing and other urban planning”

While praising Oxford Urbanists for their leadership and dedication in raising awareness about the importance of sustainable urban development across Africa, he called on industry associations, building boards, project finance firms and law firms to ensure that human rights due diligence and assessment are strictly adhered to throughout Africa. entire urban development value chain to avoid costly litigation and reputational risks related to modern slavery, child labor and unfair procurement practices in construction projects, as underlined by the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

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