ami i 
mpossible 
O I/\LL/\I I \ /1 N produced during the 'aftershave international 
artist workshop' held at Monta, Jos, entitled mission impossible was inspired by the 
reports in the Nigeria media of resurgent cases of construction disasters. This has 
pointed to a longstanding problem within the Nigerian building industry where 
little or no attention is paid to construction standards and the building code. 
Despite the signs and other warnings, the lack of standard practice in this industry 
persists. One pathetic case records that the very builders were perfectly interred 
under the collapsing rubles of a particular site. 
At this moment all our big cities are opening up as a result of the new wave of 
private civil constructions. The bandwagon effect has been that quacks masquerading 
as civil engineers emerge and multiply leaving behind monuments that can 
be likened to active volcanic mountains ready to erupt (collapse). 
Sadder than even this deplorable scenario is the total absence of rapid rescue 
operation coming to help in the face of the unexpected. People at a Lagos suburb 
were recently shown on the television watching in frustration the live burial of 
many breadwinners. Today if our own president were to be involved in an auto 
crash it will take more than medical intervention to save his life. With the absence 
of reliable rescue teams the chances of his recovery and others similarly served 
are slim inspite of the platoons of armed law enforcement agents put in place to 
ward off attempts on his life from every other direction. Who dey fool who? (who 
is fooling who?) 
The Ejigbo plane crash that claimed the lives of scores of senior officers of the 
armed forces is still fresh on our minds. Another Lagos building claimed 25 lives, 
yet another in Abuja makes one ache. Because I am writing from the seclusion 
offered by this workshop, I am unable to furnish all the accurate data of incidences 
and lives lost to prove that many buildings in our cities, without the urgent 
and necessary intervention, are nothing but active volcanic mountain sites, 
potentially. But so, the seventy million viewers of NTA (Nigerian Television Authority) 
that cannot be wrong can attest to the fact. 
We are extremely lucky not to be anywhere close to the earthquake belt of the 
world. I am sure that Mr. J. B. who constructed the collapsed bridge in Lagos 
would have had to reconstruct had that happened elsewhere otherwise people 
would pass a motion of deconstruction on most of the bridges credited to him. Put 
Lagos in Istanbul and the rest will be history. 
<GLENDORA REVIEW><African Quarterly on the/4/T5><V0l3@Nol> 
Olu Amoda
The Mission Impossible installation (candle light) at night 
The need for an alert rescue department cannot be over-emphasised It is also 
dangerous to the bu.lt environment for civil servants to merely sit back in their 
offices and approve building plans. It is desirable for them to pay surprise visits to 
construction sites instead of leaving things entirely to site engineers, many of whom 
can be influenced to cut corners. 
The mission impossible would at once become possible the moment we began to 
adhere strictly to the building code and prepare our fire-fighters and paramilitary 
organs for undertaking the much needed rescue missions. 
Monta, Jos 
November 1999. 
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