As the construction industry grapples with a shortage of artisans, stakeholders want the government to avoid a skilled labour force crisis by attaining the yearly one million trained artisans target in the next five years, writes VICTOR GBONEGUN.

The nation’s construction sector is bleeding due to the dwindling number of skilled construction workers, which is causing project delays and increased costs.

This shortage is compounded by the influx of foreign artisans, displacing local talent and draining valuable resources from the economy. Experts blame it on the aging population of existing tradesmen such as plumbers, masons, painters, tilers, electricians, carpenters and welders.

Deficits in the skilled workforce have become a source of worry to stakeholders who fear that it may lead to fewer housing stock and substandard developments across the country.

The sector plays a vital role in the overall health and growth of the economy, contributing about 12 per cent to the nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Q1, 2023, and employing the second-highest number of Nigerians after the agricultural sector.

Experts say the lack of commitment by authorities to train and employ artisans in projects, slows the growth rate of skills to match contemporary practices, while unfavourable gestation periods of attaining competence relative to skills are worsening the woes of the sector.

The Guardian investigation revealed that existing artisans are retiring in large numbers with no one to take over from them as many young Nigerians are shying away from enrolling and getting trained as artisans. They prefer to wait for unavailable white-collar jobs or join the ‘Japa syndrome’.

Findings revealed that there are over four million artisans in the country but getting adequately skilled ones among the volume has been tough over the years, forcing contractors and housing developers to engage artisans from Benin Republic, Ghana, and Togo for construction work.

However, many of the foreign artisans have left the shores of the country due to the devaluation of the local currency as the value of wage earned is depleted by persisting inflation, which rose to 33.20 per cent as of March 2024, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The President, the Association of Building Artisans of Nigeria, who confirmed the development, Mr Jimmy Oshinubi, said the greatest challenge faced by artisans is the lack of motivation to work in the industry. He said despite training and providing certification to practice, the government doesn’t engage them in projects.

He pointed out that the new generations of artisans and the youths, don’t believe there is a future in becoming an artisan in the construction industry. “I’m afraid of what will happen when the present generation of artisans passes away. Nigeria might end up relying solely on Chinese carpenters, Togolese and Beninese for construction work.

“In other climes, when you are 60 or 70 years of age, one needs to avoid such activities but most of us are still working because there are no alternatives. The youths need training and opportunities to work to grow the construction sector and the nation,” Oshinubi said.

He lamented that the jobs meant for indigenous artisans are given out by the government to foreigners like Beninese and Togolese and others because they want services at a cheaper rate.

shinubi said: “These foreign artisans sometimes do shabby jobs because they lack the basic knowledge of the Nigerian building industry. They are interested in making their money.”

He also urged the government across all levels to prioritise attaining efficient and effective power sector and security to encourage foreign investment and job creation in the construction industry.

The President, Association of Facilities Management Practitioners, Nigeria (AFMPN), Paul Erubami, regrets that some artisans are getting older without sustainable retirement plans.

Erubami, the Chief Executive Officer of Max-Migold Limited said: “We have a chronic scarcity of skilled personnel at the lower rung and middle level. It is difficult to get a group of people, who can digitise projects; we must bring people from abroad to help in doing electrical electronics modeling in projects because we couldn’t find the skill in Nigeria.

“When you have people trained in skills at the artisans’ level and they are jobless because you did not create jobs which the maintenance economy should have created. What happens is that over the years, nobody will be interested anymore in skills that keep them poor.”

President, Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB), Mr Alderton Ewa, said besides the initiative by the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), the institute is already developing a plan to mitigate the labour shortfall in the construction sector.

Ewa said NIOB has been registering artisans but the numbers are not enough coupled with the fact that the awareness and interest of people to enroll as artisans has been low.

He confirmed that the influx of foreign artisans is not as high as it was before. However, he stressed that it may not completely stop because some of them have registered their presence in the country.

“The only thing is that people won’t be patronising them as it used to be and gradually, we will reduce the number to the barest minimum. Nigerian artisans are coming up in terms of capacity development and a lot of them are good now with the kind of training they are exposed to.

“Our different state chapters of NIOB have moved from street to street to sensitise people to enable new artisans and existing ones to register in the database. A major challenge is that would be artisans or existing ones lack finance and knowledge of technology.

On efforts to reverse the situation, President, Sector Skills Council (SSC) for Building in Nigeria, Dr Samson Opaluwah, said the key roles and responsibilities of the SSC include identifying skill development needs and cataloging skill types, addressing the skills gap and promoting the development of a highly-skilled, competent workforce and maintain a skills inventory.

He said the council plans to develop a comprehensive scheme to up-skill and train one million artisans over the next five years. The plan, which he said can be expanded with sponsorship, will map out ways to develop a national skills database for the building industry, facilitate the establishment and accreditation of training centers in key locations across the country, and implement a certification programme that is recognised by employers and industry stakeholders.

“Council will serve as a platform for collaboration among stakeholders in the sector, including government agencies, educational institutions, industry associations, and employers of labour, manufacturers, professional bodies, regulators and workers’ representatives.

“We will facilitate the development of industry-driven training programmes, certification standards, and accreditation mechanisms to ensure that our workforce is equipped with relevant up-to-date and state-of-the-art skills.

“The council has hit the ground running and successfully developed occupational standards in the trade areas levels one to three for specialties in plumbing, masonry, painting and decoration, tiling, electrical installation, carpentry and joinery, welding, paint making, scaffolding and steel formwork. It is also worthy of note that the standards on aluminum cladding and floor covers levels one to five,” he added.