Dearth of skilled artisans: NIOB to train 1 million

The Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) said it has perfected plans to recruit and train one million building workers across the country.

President of the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) Tijjani B Shuaib disclosed this, last week in Abuja, shortly after he was sworn in as the Institute`s new president.

He said that the introduction of the National Vocational Qualification Framework (NVQF), which gives the institute the power to assess and certify artisans and craftsmen as enshrined in the National Building Code, will further lend credence to the training programme.

He said, “With the approval from NBTE, the assessment and certification board which has just been established is expected to train, assess and certify 200 thousand artisans within the next 12 months.

Towards this end, skill training centres are to be established in all six geo-political zones while all state chapters will have to be fully equipped and active in the recruitment and basic skills training to prepare their candidates for assessment and certification.”

“Membership drive for all cadres will have to be stepped up in order that professional members are not overwhelmed by the expected massive influx of competent and certified artisans into the industry.”

Shuaibu therefore gave a wakeup call to NIOB members to acquire basic straining in order to effectively supervise these new breed of artisans and benefit from the significant incremental income they can generate as trainers, training providers, assessors and verifiers.

“To drive this, we have entered into a tripartite collaboration with CORBON and the DFID sponsored construction skills training and empowerment project C-STEmp with its foreign partners to train 120 masters’ trainers, 1000 trainers and assessors,’’ said the NIOB president.