The Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB), has urged the Federal Government to initiate policies aimed at addressing the challenges of professional practice in the construction industry.
The President of the institute, Mr. Kenneth Nduka, made this call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Abuja, on Thursday.
Nduka said that putting right policies in place would go a long way to eliminate quackery and promote professional excellence in the construction industry.
According to Nduka, government should ensure that those who are trained in specific professions are shouldered with the responsibility to select their colleagues for specific tasks.
“Government should have an orderly manner with which to address the challenges of professional practice; have the principled drive and positive interest as leaders.
This, according to him, is to ensure that the operative environment is made conducive for those who practice the profession.
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“One thing that many people have neglected is that sometimes, when these professionals are given jobs to do, you realised that after doing the job, they are not paid.
“If the issue of professionalism, timely delivery, cost effectiveness, quality products must be addressed; it means the financial resources that should support them should be made available promptly,’’ he said.
Also, according to him, normalcy will set in if our appetites for foreign materials are controlled, if the professionals themselves are disciplined and have positive attitude to work.
“If our Ministry of Interior key into it by limiting the number of foreigners to do the work that are supposed to be done by Nigerian professionals among other things”.
Contributing, a human rights lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), told NAN that foreigners should not be given preference in the construction industry.
Falana stressed the need for government to properly harness the country’s abundant human and natural resources.
He posited that training and re-training of engineers to meet with the trends in the sector will help in harnessing human resources in the country, especially in the construction industry.
“Building professionals have not taken steps to check quackery and you find out that the foreigners running the industry in the country are not registered under our law.
“In some situations, preference is given to unqualified foreign builders at the expense of our qualified local engineers.
“It is time that registered builders take control of the building industry,’’ he said. (NAN)
