Erhieyovwe on Bridging Nigeria’s Construction Chasm: Technology, Training and the Fight Against Collapse
Ugo Aliogo
Every dawn in Lagos brings fresh optimism—and the lingering fear that another building might give way underfoot. In the last two years alone, Nigeria has seen at least 135 collapse incidents, many during construction or shortly after handover, costing lives and shattering public trust in our built environment. These disasters aren’t merely the result of substandard cement or steel; they spring from a systemic failure to verify structural and mechanical integrity before occupation.
For Akpevwe Theophilus Erhieyovwe—a Nigerian‑trained physicist and geoscientist now commissioning high‑performance buildings in Chicago—the pattern is painfully familiar. “Structures go up fast, but nobody ever asks if the pumps work, if the wiring is safe, or if the sensors even read correctly,” he warns. In advanced markets, every mechanical, electrical and plumbing system is performance‑tested under real conditions. In Nigeria, that critical step is almost always skipped, leaving defects invisible until they become calamities.
The human cost of this technology gap is stark. Across Abuja office towers and Port Harcourt hospitals, generators fail to start when the grid collapses, air‑conditioning units overheat under unbalanced loads, and water pumps sputter out long before their expected lifespan. Yet developers—and ultimately occupants—continue to shoulder soaring maintenance bills. “We burn billions on diesel, then waste half of it because nobody balanced the system or tuned the controls,” Erhieyovwe says. With nearly 40 per cent of Nigeria’s power lost to inefficiencies, each unchecked part and poor maintenance culture has deepened the crisis.
At the heart of these failures lies a yawning training divide. Less than 30 per cent of Nigerian engineering graduates possess core digital skills—3d modelling, system simulation or building‑automation diagnostics—that are standard competencies abroad. In university lecture halls, commissioning is barely mentioned; in workshops, smart meters and data‑loggers gather dust. “You can’t download safety,” Erhieyovwe notes. “You have to train for it.” Without hands‑on experience, young engineers enter the field unprepared to spot a miswired relay or a leaking pump until it’s too late.
Erhieyovwe proposes a three‑pronged solution: overhaul academic curricula, establish regional test labs, and institute formal apprenticeships with national certifications. He envisions demo benches loaded with HVAC controls, electrical analysers and pipeline simulators—tools that allow students to validate system performance, not just memorise formulas. He calls on COREN and the Nigerian Society of Engineers to roll out Commissioning Technician and Energy Performance Analyst credentials that contractors must secure before project approval. “When a builder knows he can’t get occupancy without a certified stamp, he’ll pay attention,” he says.
Public‑private partnerships could accelerate the shift. Technology vendors—smart‑meter firms, BAS providers and software developers—must collaborate with universities and professional bodies to run boot‑camps, hackathons and mentorship schemes. Diaspora engineers like Erhieyovwe already mentor student chapters via Zoom, demonstrating blower‑door tests and sensor calibrations. “If someone in Chicago can pilot‑test an inverter, so can someone in Ibadan or Port Harcourt,” he insists. Such initiatives would seed the innovation ecosystem that Nigeria so desperately needs.
The stakes extend far beyond individual buildings. As Nigeria eyes industrial parks, data centres and smart cities, untested infrastructure threatens every naira invested. Frequent power cuts, runaway maintenance costs and the spectre of collapse are the predictable outcomes of systems never performance‑tested. “We can’t afford guesswork,” Erhieyovwe says. “Our infrastructure must be performance‑tested from day one.” By bridging the gap between theory and practice through technology and training, Nigeria can transform its construction sector from a liability into a global exemplar of resilience.
About Akpevwe Erhieyovwe
Akpevwe Theophilus Erhieyovwe is a versatile scientist‑engineer with degrees in Physics (Rivers State University), Petroleum Geosciences (University of Port Harcourt) and an M.Sc. in Physics (Illinois Institute of Technology). He began as a teaching assistant before joining Chevron Nigeria, where he worked briefly as an earth scientist and a business analyst. At IHS Towers, he led teams installing and assuring quality for 2G–5G and fibre-optic networks, optimising performance and mentoring junior engineers. Currently, he is a Commissioning & Energy Engineer at Baumann Consulting in Chicago, where he directs MEP design reviews, Functional Performance Testing and LEED/ENERGY STAR compliance to deliver efficient, sustainable buildings. His systems-thinking approach earned him the Chevron Human Energy Award, Shell Undergraduate Scholarship, Shell Geosciences Summer School Award, Society of Petroleum Engineers Innovation Award and NAPE Award.
