The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) and the Nigeria Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI) have partnered with the Chartered Institute of Forensics and Certified Fraud Investigators of Nigeria (CIFCFIN) to strengthen the investigation of engineering failures in Nigeria.
The partnership was announced in Abuja during the induction of the inaugural cohort of Certified Forensic Engineering Failure Investigators (CEFFI).
Speaking at the event, the President and Chairman of the Governing Council of CIFCFIN, Dr Iliyasu Gashinbaki, said engineering failures could have consequences beyond the collapse of structures or failure of projects, affecting lives, public resources, safety and institutional trust.
He attributed engineering failures to factors including defective designs, substandard materials, negligent workmanship, inadequate supervision and compromised safety standards.
Gashinbaki, however, noted that some failures that appear to be technical could also have deeper links to fraud, procurement abuse, falsification, conflicts of interest and deliberate circumvention of engineering controls.
He cited a 2026 engineering study which identified 111 validated building collapses in Nigeria between 2015 and 2025. According to him, the incidents resulted in 321 deaths and 344 injuries.
He also cited an analysis of documented fire incidents between 2022 and 2025 which estimated at least N4.6tn in losses involving destroyed goods, property and business assets.
Gashinbaki said the figures highlighted the need for Nigeria to move away from reactive responses to engineering and infrastructure failures towards evidence-based investigations capable of establishing their root causes.
He described the partnership with COREN and NBRRI as timely, noting that it brings together engineering, forensic science, law, regulation and investigation.
According to him, regulators, project owners, contractors, professional bodies and law-enforcement agencies need to move beyond situations where engineering failures end with repairs, abandonment or silence without determining what caused them.
He said properly conducted forensic engineering could preserve technical evidence required for regulatory and legal action where negligence, fraud, malpractice or deliberate compromise of safety was suspected.
COREN seeks more forensic investigators
The President of COREN, Prof. Sadiq Zubair Abubakar, said the collaboration with CIFCFIN was designed to equip engineers with dual competencies that combine engineering expertise with forensic investigation skills.
Abubakar described the initiative as a significant development for Nigeria’s engineering profession, particularly in addressing longstanding gaps in the investigation of engineering failures within the construction and built environment.
He called for the development of a critical mass of professionally trained forensic engineering investigators who could strengthen investigations into infrastructure failures across the country.
According to him, forensic engineering should not be limited to the construction sector.
He identified mining, oil and gas, telecommunications, transportation, aviation and aerospace as other sectors where certified engineering failure forensic investigators could play important roles.
Abubakar said the ultimate objective was to develop internationally recognised forensic engineering professionals capable of working both in Nigeria and globally.
He expressed the hope that the partnership would continue to expand and contribute to stronger engineering regulation and professional capacity in the country.
Partnership builds on earlier training
The latest initiative follows earlier efforts by COREN, NBRRI and CIFCFIN to build capacity in forensic engineering.
In June 2026, COREN organised a three-day training and certification workshop on engineering failure and forensic investigation for licensed engineering practitioners from academia, industry and government agencies.
The workshop was organised in collaboration with NBRRI and CIFCFIN and focused on strengthening the ability of engineers to investigate structural failures, building collapses and other engineering-related incidents.
COREN Registrar, Prof. Uche Okorie, said the training was intended to create a pool of qualified experts capable of investigating failures and identifying their root causes.
He said the council was also working to ensure that qualified professionals and experts were responsible for construction and that, where failures occurred, they were investigated using appropriate tools to help prevent recurrence.
NBRRI Director-General, Prof. Samson Duna, said the institute had participated in several building-collapse investigations and conducted research aimed at reducing structural failures.
He said NBRRI’s laboratories, equipped for destructive and non-destructive testing, could provide technical support for forensic investigations, including the testing of construction materials and assessment of infrastructure.
The partnership is expected to strengthen Nigeria’s capacity to investigate engineering failures, establish their causes and improve accountability across the construction and wider infrastructure sectors.
