Fashola Charges Builders to Innovate Techniques Anchored on Indigenous Materials
The Nigeria Institute of Building (NIOB) has an onerous responsibility to blaze new trails in skills development and in the promotion of innovative building techniques anchored upon indigenous building materials, Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola has said.
The minister stated this in his presentation, ‘Building to Prosperity: Leading 100 Million Out of Poverty’, at the investiture of 20th President of the Nigerian Institute of Builders (NIOB), Bldr. Kunle Awobodu in Abuja, recently.
The minister said the Institute’s “current regulatory instruments must be fine-tuned to arrest quackery, punish professional recklessness and reward excellence. A professional builder has the duty to identify his exclusive role in the built industry and respect the roles of others. More importantly, you have a bigger task of recognising common roles and express commitment to them.”
He said in Nigeria, historical experiences had placed different burdens on different professions to carry, urging them, “as professional builders to ascertain and upturn any unpalatable impressions carried by the Nigerian populace against your genre. You may need to sometimes stand in the gap for the entire built environment. I believe you can do it. And I want to leave you with assurances of the full support and strong fellowship of Federal Ministry of Works and Housing now and in the foreseeable future.”
Fashola had a word for Awobodu, whom he addressed as “my amiable friend and colleague the President of NIOB, I rejoice with you on your investiture.
“To all other members of the new Executive Council of NIOB, I congratulate you on your inauguration. I hereby enjoin you all to live up to the expectations and confidence reposed in you by members of the institute. Remember, Leadership remains a huge task that demands huge commitments and deserves huge sacrifices. I believe you will be found worthy.”
On the part of the government, he said “I wish it to be understood clearly that President Buhari has set Nigeria on a most defining, aspirational and audacious journey of a generation by asking us to help him lift a 100 million people out of poverty in 10 years, a period that will run well beyond his tenure.
“Besides, all of you have a big role to play by conscientiously building structures of prosperity that will fill up the voids of inequality. This Vision, which is captured in the Title of my Speech, ‘Building to Prosperity, Leading 100 Million Out of Poverty’ is possible and l pledge to work with you to achieve our goal.”
Also, the Chairman at the investiture, the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola described Awobodu as a personal friend and as an experienced and committed professional with integrity whose tenure as president was expected to take the Institute to the next level.
Aregbesola challenged Nigerian builders to come up with building construction innovations that would not only stand the test of time but would also be suitable for the tropical weather conditions in Nigeria.
The Minister said the quality of building materials used in today’s buildings are not suitable for the nation’s weather conditions. He observed that for instance, the corrugated roofing sheets widely used in Nigeria easily yield to the elements; becoming rusted due to the tropical sunshine. And when it rained, the pounding sound of the rains makes the noise inside the houses unbearable. Ogbeni Aregbesola also pointed out that there are bound to be adverse health implications in the quality of building materials used which have not yet been fully made known to Nigerians.