Abuja — The Senate is currently considering a bill to make construction firms who use sub-standard building materials to build edifices lose its licence, in addition to payment of N2.5 million fine.

The Senate is also considering setting up a regulatory agency that will be saddled with ensuring compliance with standard in the nation's building industry.

The bill, sponsored by Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Works, Senator Femi Kila, is coming on the heels of series of collapsed buildings in different parts of the country in recent times.

The Senate has already taken the bill through its first reading, thus paving the way for the second reading any time from now.

According to the bill, any person who contravenes provisions of any of the regulations made under this act is guilty of an offence and liable to conviction to penalties specified in the regulation; where no penalty has been specified, the person shall be liable to a fine of N50,000 or imprisonment for term of one year or to both such fine and imprisonment.

"Where an offence under this act which has been committed by a body and corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or any person purporting to act in any of those capacities, he, as well as body corporate shall be deemed to be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not less than N100,000 and not more than N1 million in the first instance; not less than N250,000 and not more than N2.5 million in the second instance; and such a corporate body shall have its registration revoked in the third instance by the decision of the board," it read.

The Bill prescribes that there should be effective monitoring of importation, exportation, advertisement, manufacturing, distribution, sales and use of unethical and sub-standard building materials.