NIOB charges members on skill development, artisans’ training

Nigerian builders under the aegis of the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) have been urged to develop their skills, which will be useful to train artisans plying their trade within the country’s construction industry.

For that reason, its national body held intensive training for Nigerian builders. The four-day training within two weeks, which began in Lagos penultimate week, ended last week in Kano. The same was done in Abuja and Enugu respectively.

The trainings, it was said became necessary as the estimated housing shortfall of 17 million, not less than five to 10 million skilled workers comprising of masons, carpenters, steel fabricators, plumbers, electricians, tillers, painters and among others would be needed to build at least one million housing units a year in the next 20 years.

NIOB President, Mr. Tijjani Shuaib said if the Federal Government’s vision on job creation and youth empowerment must be a reality, members of the profession could not afford to ignore the for training and re-training of artisans and craftsmen in the construction industry.

Shuaib added that the workshop would advance the drive for the assessment and certification of artisans and craftsmen by the institute as a certificate awarding body, encourage members to open up training centres, and ultimately ensure that Nigerian youths are gainfully engaged and that the best workmen are used for construction works for quality outputs to curb building collapse.

The organiser of the event, NIOB Second Vice President, Kunle Awobodu said that the training and re-training of skilled and competent workforce in the construction industry in Nigeria needed to be revisited to ensure the availability of competent workforce in masonry, carpentry, cabinet maker, furniture and wood work, spray painting, welding, arch welding, iron bending, fabrication and felting.