By Patrick Ahanor
Benin City
Edo state government has charged members of the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) to formulate adequate legislation aimed at regulating its activities with the view to enhancing professionalism in the sector.
The Commissioner for Housing and Urban Development, Mr. Francis Evbuomwan, stated this at the 46th Builders’ Conference/Annual General Meeting in Benin City, the state capital.
He noted that the meeting was apt because according to him, it will enable the NIOB and other sister body to come together and brainstorm on how to drive the industry “rather than allowing it to run on its own.”
The five-day conference has as its theme: “Building Industry and National Economic Development.”
Evbuomwan further said Edo state government was the first to have established the Urban Planning and Building Regulation in collaboration with NIOB.
In his address, National President of the institute, Mr. Tijjani Birnin-Kudu Shuaib, warned that the building profession must not be left in the hands of quacks, adding that “professionals should assert themselves and take the lead for a better society and economic growth of the country.”
“As builders, our foremost concern is that the construction of buildings must not be left in the hands of quacks but that builders and certified artisans will continue to play their roles effectively as the critical link in production management,” he said.
In his keynote address, the Rector, Institute of Construction Technology, Uromi, Prof. S. O. Onohaobi, said the construction company had remained one of the largest employers of labour all over the world.
