Youths are encouraged to come into artisanry as the number is diminishing says Prince Jimi Oshinubi, the National President of Association of building consultants and artisans of Nigeria at the Do Win opening of Turkish Expo held recently in Lagos.
The association is the umbrella body of all the artisans in the building sector and spanning almost 8 years, he said.
Oshinubi stated that the association was set up to monitor the activities of artisans in the building sector. The idea is to train and retrain artisans, which takes place at Lagos State Polytechnic and Federal Polytechnic Ilaro, this will help update their skills.
The association keeps a register of its members to enable them take responsibility of these artisans. Their works can therefore be monitored to ensure good quality, he said.
He stated that their artisans are different from the road side artisans who sleep on sites and engage in shabby jobs as they are trained, certified, and possess identification cards.
He said an average artisan in Nigeria will not earn less than N5000 per day whereas the foreign artisans from Togo, Benin, and the likes can go cheaper since conversion of Naira in their countries make it favourable.
Those who patronise these unregistered artisans for cheap labour should be ready to experience poor outcome as it is seen in building collapse cases in our society, he said.
Government and employers are encouraged to patronise these registered artisans and at reasonable prices to help keep the artisans from going on extinction, he said.
The Expo was declared opened by Mr Muritala Aliu, the Chairman Nigerian Institute of Quantity Survey Regulatory board,
Aliu stated that to curb the high cost of building in the country, building materials should be produced locally and foreign investors are advised to site their industries herein Nigeria to reduce cost.
He commended the Expo as a good one and expository to the Nigerian building sector. He enjoined them to partner and establish their local sites in the country.
As a regulatory agency, we are saddled with the task of ensuring that members conform to ethics, streamlined to ensure straight forwardness, and members operate within the guidelines of the profession, he said.
He stated that to prevent corruption in the construction industry, the procurement process of projects should be properly scrutinized as defaulters will be sanctioned.
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