In a country faced with a high unemployment rate, an acute shortage of skilled construction artisans is increasingly undermining project execution targets, inflating housing costs and worsening the deficit. But the solution is in the army of unemployed youths if they are strategically trained en masse, VICTOR GBONEGUN reports.

Nigeria’s housing sector is facing a growing shortage of skilled artisans, bricklayers, plumbers, electricians, and carpenters, which is threatening project timelines, inflating costs, and undermining quality across the building industry.

While government and private developers continue to roll out ambitious housing plans to bridge Nigeria’s 28 million housing unit deficit, the chronic lack of trained workers is proving a major bottleneck.

The labour cost in the housing construction process often ranges between 15 to 25 per cent, which adds up to the overall cost of housing production. Experts said, about one million skilled artisans are needed to bridge gaps in the housing and construction sector.

At construction sites from Lagos to Abuja, developers said delays are increasingly tied to difficulties sourcing reliable craftsmen. A once-abundant labour force is now scarce, thanks to years of neglect in technical training, urban migration, and international emigration to the UK and Gulf States.

According to recruitment firm Build Global, over 12,000 construction artisans migrated overseas between 2022 and 2024 alone. Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN) reckon that the country’s construction sector operates with less than 30 per cent of the skilled manpower it needs. As a result, projects are running three to six months behind schedule on average, with cost overruns of up to 20 per cent.

The National Housing Programme, launched to deliver 300,000 homes yearly, has consistently missed targets. State-run housing schemes in Lagos, Rivers, and Kano have all reported delays attributed in part to labour shortages. Beyond delays, the artisan shortage has led to widespread use of untrained hands. This has raised concerns about safety, durability, and rising incidents of collapsed buildings.

Nigeria’s network of technical colleges and vocational centres has withered over the decades. Many lack modern equipment, low wages and poor working conditions, updated curricula, or industry-certified instructors. Enrollment remains low, with youth often unaware of the career potential in skilled trades. They also stressed the urgency to mainstream technical and vocational education, improve funding support for technical education development, and align training with the needs of industry.

Over the years, developers have had to outsource the artisans’ workforce from neighbouring African countries, including Togo, Benin Republic, Ghana, Lebanon and others. In 2024, the Federal Ministry of Works partnered with private bodies like Julius Berger and the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) to revive apprentice training, but progress has been slow and fragmented.

Industry experts agreed on the need for a national skills revival strategy. This includes overhauling technical education, funding a modern training centre, and launching campaigns to rebrand skilled trades as respectable and lucrative professions.

With the existing over 15,000 skilled artisans gap in Lagos’ construction sector alone, the general lamentation about available artisans’ manpower by building managers, contractors and developers, The Guardian learnt, is that the deficit in skills competence fuels project delays, cost overruns and mostly compromised quality and safety standards.

The situation led to the establishment of the Sector Skills Council for Building in Nigeria (SSCBIN), approved by the Federal Executive Council and headed by Dr Samson Opaluwah, a builder, which aims to deepen investment in the skill development sector.

Opaluwah told The Guardian that the council plans to train one million artisans for the construction sector in five years, but operators are worried that it might take close to 10 to 15 years to feel the impact on the sector.

Chief Executive Officer, Realty Point Limited and former Vice President of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN) in the South-West, Debo Adejana, said poor workmanship among local artisans often results in rework, inflating construction budgets and delaying handover.

“Oftentimes, developers must redo jobs that were poorly executed. That affects both cost and the final experience the buyer has with the property,” Adejana said. “There’s a deeper issue of professional pride. Artisanship used to be a respected path, but now young people chase quick money from commercial motorcycling, ride-hailing, or informal trade. We must restore dignity in labour.”

He warned that over-reliance on foreign labour from countries like Togo, Ghana and Benin may have short-term benefits but poses long-term risks to Nigeria’s self-sufficiency in construction. “The construction sector can’t sustainably rely on external labour. We must invest in our own human capital,” he said.

The Chief Executive Officer of Veritasi Homes and Properties, Nola Adetola, echoed the concerns, describing Nigeria’s artisanship as ‘poor’ and incapable of supporting mass housing efforts. “We’ve reached a point where we import not only the building materials but also the artisans, including Lebanese and other expatriates, who get paid in foreign currencies,” Adetola said. “That adds to our overhead, while we still have to micro-manage every stage of the project.” He emphasised the need for large-scale vocational reform. “We must fix this if housing is ever to become a major growth driver for our economy.”

Also, the Managing Director of Noble Grounds Limited, Olajide Dosunmu, said the dearth of skilled workers remains one of the biggest operational challenges in urban centres. He explained that currency devaluation has further complicated the issue, with foreign artisans now charging higher rates and inflating overall labour costs.

“In our case, we’ve had to invest in training and retraining workers, especially in finishing trades like tiling, plumbing, and electrical installations,” Dosunmu said. He called on the Federal Government to scale up artisan training institutions and create a formal licensing framework, similar to other skilled professions, to ensure that only qualified tradespeople are employed on construction sites.

According to him, while labour is a concern, the spiralling cost of building materials, particularly cement, is equally detrimental. “Cement is one of our biggest cost drivers. We must research alternative building methods and materials. In the U.S., they use wood extensively, and it’s cost-effective and sustainable. We need a local version of that,” Dosunmu said.

Industry leaders are urging the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) and relevant ministries to initiate coordinated reforms that include certification, licensing, and incentives to attract young Nigerians into artisan trades or risk a full-blown crisis in the nation’s housing industry.