Builders said that empowering construction artisans and ensuring their skills are certified is a valuable initiative to increase the workforce in the building industry.
The President, Nigerian Institute of Building, (NIOB) Mr. Alderton Ewa, who stated this at the fourth edition of the construction artisans’ award in Abuja, said that certifications could provide recognition of their expertise, enhance employability and improve overall industry standards.
According to him, such a move will help artisans’ access better job opportunities and contribute to the construction sector’s growth and quality.
He said one of the challenges of the building construction sector has been the lack of a viable system for selection and recruitment of artisans and craftsmen to construction sites. He cited disintegration of the training structures and certification systems such as the craft and technical schools, the city and guilds, West Africa Examination Council technical certification and loss of credibility of the trade test certificates, which have lately been issued without definitive assessment of attendant skills and competencies.
Ewa explained that need for skilled manpower and vocational excellence in Nigeria and beyond cannot be overemphasised and Construction Skills Training and Empowerment project (C-STEMP) is helping to satisfy the need for skilled manpower, by establishing a wide area network of technology enabled vocational training centers that offer training on a good number of soft and hard skills.
“Construction artisans and craftsmen must be proud of themselves. You must believe in yourselves and be responsible to earn the respect of others. You must be orderly. You must realise the dignity in labour and together we will develop the infrastructural capacity of this nation. The objective of National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) is to ensure the quality, status, relevance and provision availability of technical and vocational education and training (TVETs).
NSQs are quite different from conventional qualifications; they are about showing others that people are competent to do the job. They require that people can consistently show to an assessor that they can do the job competently and answer questions associated with the job,” he said.
He disclosed that NIOB has been engaged in the assessment and certification of artisans and craftsmen through assessment and certification of 690 candidates across Kaduna, Kano and Katsina States under the Mafita Programme, sponsored by United Kingdom’s Department For International Development (DFID) and facilitated by Adams Smith International, and assessment and certification of NPower Build Trainees for Batch one and two under the Federal Government of Nigeria and National Skills National Investment office (NSIO).
Ewa said the institute is currently in partnership with Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON) and Industrial Training Fund (ITF) for the registration of centres that participated in the N-Power Batches C1 and C2 and the certification of the trainees.
The NIOB president said: “Hydraulic Equipment Development Institute (HEDI), the agency in charge of the Federal Government N-Skills programme has also registered as a training provider with the institute.
Talks are ongoing with Ogun State Skills Fund for the registration of centres and certification of trainees under the Community Based Apprenticeship System. The Artisans and Craftsmen Empowerment Association (ACEMA), which was inaugurated by NIOB, is a veritable tool to achieving the much-needed empowerment, orderliness and unity of purpose required of artisans/craftsmen in the construction industry.”
