NIA refutes report on professional exam dispute

Architects have refuted a report that the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, waded into the professional exams dispute between Architects Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) and the Nigerian Institute of Architects(NIA).

They said the issue was never discussed during their visit. The report had said that Fashola told NIA members to sheath the sword and ensure it complies with ARCON, as stipulated by the law guiding the profession.

The institute said the minister never said what was attributed to him in the said publication. In the meeting, NIA President, Tonye Braide told the minister that Nigeria needs about 25,000 architects to fulfill the professional inputs requisite to achieve the right quantum of development, but unfortunately, there are less than 4,000 registered architects in over the 56 years of the institute’s existence.

“There are varying interpretations of the laws governing the practice of architecture in Nigeria, which have to be put right to achieve a total recapture of government’s massive investments in our architectural educational infrastructure.

“We have to be more inclusive and open our doors to all who have had exposure to architectural training. We have to set up a bridging mechanism to bridge all gaps and bring all to join in this call to arms. We cannot prefer foreigners who we do not regulate nor have capacity to verify the quality of their educational background to our local content and capacity, who we can expose to hands-on training to attain best practice professional proficiency standards,” Braide added.