The real estate sector is fast changing with sophistication in designing skills, choice of materials and workmanship. To achieve the needed finishing and competitiveness, there is need for trained and competent artisans to bring to bear their skills and knowledge in the over N900 billion nation’s artisan market. Operators in the sector complain that Nigeria is fast losing out to foreign artisans as a result of tardiness, trust, poor workmanship, incompetence and poor sectoral control. OKWY IROEGBU-CHIKEZIE reports that if nothing was done, the nation’s artisans fortunes may dim in the coming years.
IMPROVEMENT in building designs and in the construction industry have left Nigerian untrained and unskilled artisans in the lurch, thereby ceding the over N900 billion trade yearly in the industry in the hands of foreigners.
Construction needs timeliness and precision, but local artisans do not seem to have these values, thereby putting the contractors or owners of such buildings or sites in dilemma.
Nigeria Institute of Building (NIOB) President, Kunle Awobodu said foreign artisans are superior in craftsmanship and technicality compared to some of our local artisans, especially in finishings.
According to him, their charges are reasonable because they have a lot of apprentices from their home towns who take little as income.
He said: “Our youths are not interested in site work but fast and easy money unlike them and their pricing is not competitive. They prefer Okada riding and other unorthodox means. They don’t want hard labour. Most of our artisans are aging and there is no visible and sustainable replacement. When you give them jobs, they don’t have apprentice to handle, but their colleagues who will charge them the same rate they charged their clients.”
Awobodu also stated that these artisans from the West African sub-region, are more skilfull because their countries adopted the National Vocational Qualification (NVQ), which is a work-based qualification, which recognises the skills and knowledge of a person.
On the way forward, he canvassed proper monitoring. He commended the government for coming up with the National Board of Technical Education (NBTE).
An estate surveyor and valuer, Niyi Olagoke, said local artisans do not do their jobs thoroughly unlike the ones from Cotonou, Togo, Ghana and other West African countries.
He stressed trust and timeliness, noting that the foreign artisans do not take too many jobs at the same time that may lead to poor performance.
He said: “The associations they belong to need to do a lot more in terms of discipline and control of their members. The idea of taking up multiple jobs, collecting and abandoning them mid-way should be discouraged and sanctioned by their associations, such as the tilers, bricklayers, aluminum fitters, plumbers, and painters.This ugly trend is so rampant to an embarrassing level. They are always in a hurry and lack patience as against the foreign ones who know it’s a contract and are mindful of the smallest details.”
Olagoke does not have any hard feelings as to them losing patronage except they change their orientation, which he insists is not good for the sector.
Managing Director, Afolabi Adedeji & Associates (AA&A), a civil engineer, Mr Afolabi Adedeji, said it is not only a perception that artisans from Cotonou, Ghana and Togo are more professional in the way they handle jobs, but a reality because of their knack for details.
He said the construction sector is highly in need of competent masons and bricklayers, carpenters, joiners with many sub-specialties, such as formwork, roofing and furniture. Others are steel fixers, iron benders, welders, painters, mechanics, machine operators, scaffolders, crane driver, tilers, and terrazzo floor finishers.Their success require skill and level headedness.
He explained that a good mason should be able to lay between 40 and 70 sandcrete blocks measuring 6″X9″X18″ in an eighth-hour working day while some could lay as many as 120 blocks per day. He maintained that they take their work seriously and have good work ethics, especially punctuality and honesty, in addition to keeping to bargains and contractual agreements, whether written or verbal.
He further stated that another thing the artisans from Ghana, Togo and Benin Republic is that they have multi-skilling and multi-tasking abilities, noting that many of them combine their skills as bricklayers, carpenters and painters in one package.
On how to change the tide, he said: “‘Easy money from other sectors has literally depleted the number of skilled hands in trades, which take a lot of time and effort to produce. The young people do not want to learn any trade but it is left for the government to promote technical education and look for other ways to improve the knowledge base of artisans.”
A former president of Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Kashim Ali, an engineer, reportedly said the skill gap in the country developed over the years due to retirement of old artisans without the young generation being groomed to take over from them.
He regretted that 80 per cent of masons, carpenters, steel fabricators, plumbers, electricians, painters, and tillers found on construction sites across the country are foreigners from neighbouring countries of Cameroon, Niger, Togo and Ghana.
According to him, ”COREN is very concerned about the paucity of indigenous technicians and craftsmen in the country. The council carried out a technical audit of over 300 technical colleges, 98 per cent of the technical colleges visited.’’
He said the dearth of indigenous artisans and technicians in the engineering sector was a major economic setback. As the skill gap continues to widen, there has been huge capital flights as expatriates come in to fill the lacuna at the detriment of our country.
The National Union of Civil Engineering, Construction, Furniture and Wood Workers (NUCECFWW) also spoke against the massive loss of jobs by their members to expatriates.
The association lamented that Asians had taken over the jobs of technicians and artisans that can be done by Nigerians.
They wondered what is special about carpentry, technical and iron bending, among other jobs done by expatriates.
The Association of Building Consultants and Artisans of Nigeria (ABCAN) also lamented that over 20,000 of its members across the country are without job.
It frowned on home builders and the government, accusing them of preferring foreign artisans to indigenous ones.
In Lagos State, as part of the government’s determination to reduce unemployment and skill deficiency among artisans, it has stepped up efforts at providing the enabling environment for young entrepreneurs, artisans and tradesmen to do business, deliver innovation, and boost the growth of the state’s economy.
The Lagos State Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment (MWC&E) does this in collaboration with Lagos State Technical and Vocational Education Board (LASTVEB). It has intensified the campaign to train tradesmen and artisans in the state to enhance their productivity and upgrade their skills.