The outgoing President of the Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA), Arc. Mobolaji Adeniyi, has revealed that the architectural profession has contributed N6.17 trillion to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product, which represents about six percent of the nation’s GDP.

Adeniyi stated this at the 65th Biennial General Assembly Meeting (BGM), Conference, Exhibition and Election of a new executive for the Institute in Abuja, and also stressed that there is no developing nation that does not depend on its architects for infrastructural development.
While emphasizing that the profession creates massive employment, especially for artisans in the built environment, the President cited Dubai as a typical example of a society that achieved economic and infrastructural development through the instrument of its architects and architectural excellence.

He said, “The profession contributes to 6 percent of the GDP, representing N6.17 trillion. There is no developing nation in the world that does not depend on its architects. You know, all over the world, what drives the economy is it, particularly, look at Dubai.
“What is driving the economic growth of Dubai? I can tell you people for free, it is architecture. This is the tourism industry. And what drives the tourism industry? It is the architecture.
“The renowned architect, who was responding to cases of building collapse in the country, urged builders, estate developers and governments at all levels to always engage professional as well as registered architects to handle their projects.”

The outgoing President declared, “One of the first things is that we as architects are ensuring that only registered architects are employed and used on our projects. When one has a registered professional being the head of a team on a building project, you can be sure that you will have no compromises that may lead to building collapse.”
Contributing, incoming President Sani Saulawa reiterated that the Institute has never recorded any case of building collapse involving its members, adding that they will continue to lay emphasis on professionalism to create the needed awareness among major stakeholders and others in the built environment to adhere to the ethics.

He said the NIA has unlicensed architects that engage in services outside their professional responsibilities and warned those who dabble in roles that are meant for architects, even without being licensed or without the required capacity, to desist from such acts.
“They don’t have any background in any of the built environment-related professions, but because they just see it as an avenue to make money through construction, they just dabble into it without knowing the codes, the rules, regulations; that must stop.

“So, like the former president has also said, the preliminary investigations carried out in most of the affected sites where you have building collapse, there are basically no registered. We will say from our own point of view here, there are no registered members of the NIA,” he added.