Institute of Building to train 200,000 artisans in 2016 – President

The Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) in collaboration with the Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON), plan to train and certify 200,000 artisans in 2016.

President of the institute Mr Tijjani Shuaib made the disclosure on Thursday in Abuja at the inauguration of the Construction Skills Training and Empowerment Programme (C-STEmp).

He said that two million artisans would be trained in the next five years.

He said that the empowerment programme was aimed at developing a pool of well trained and qualified manpower for the housing and construction industry.

Shuaib said that the implementation of C-STEmp would help to reduce unemployment, poverty, and block the influx of foreign construction workers into Nigeria.

He recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had pledged that his administration would move quickly to address the shortage of skilled construction workers in the country.

“NIOB is ready to commence training, assessment and certification of building craftsmen and artisans in collaboration with CORBON and the DFID sponsored C-STEmp.

“We have developed and validated a National Occupational Standards for the key building construction trades such as masonry, carpentry, plumbing, electrical installation, painting and decoration among others,’’ he said.

The president said that some assessors and verifiers were being trained by the institute with the assistance of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE).

Shuaib expressed concern that skill gap in the nation’s construction sector and poor quality project delivery had become a trend in Nigeria.

He said that NIOB and CORBON decided to partner NBTE to relieve project sites across the country of unskilled, inefficient and dissatisfied workers engaged in the building industry.

In his remarks at the occasion, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, reiterated the promise of the Federal Government to act promptly to address shortage of skilled Nigerian artisans.

He recalled that President Buhari recently decried the influx of foreign construction workers into Nigeria.

He said the training would be of benefit to the ministry since it already had vocational training centres for artisans and craftsmen in Yaba and Onikan in Lagos state and Ikeduru in Imo state.

The minister commended NIOB and CORBON for organising the skills training and empowerment programme.

He however advised that the training should be focused to achieve its intended purpose to supply skilled manpower in housing and construction industry.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that C-STEmp is an initiative of J.Hausen Ltd. construction management consultancy firm.