The Interior Designers Association of Nigeria (IDAN) has called on the Federal Government to grant them a license to professionalise the trade.
The association noted that this would bring standards and policies to the profession and regulate its practice.
Founder of the association and the 21st President of the International Federation of Interior Architects/Designers, Titi Ogufere, stated that there was a massive gap in its regulation in Africa, hence the need to be licensed by the government.
In a statement issued at the end of its town hall meeting in Abuja, Ogufere said: “We, as a body, are calling for government regulation to enhance the ethical standards and technical competence in the public interest. We will be providing the Nigerian public with the means to identify Interior Designers who have demonstrated the minimum level of competence needed to practice Interior Design.
“With the pandemic, we have all seen the profession’s importance in the built environments where the public’s health, safety and welfare should be of foremost importance. So, it has become necessary to regulate this profession.”
While stating that interior design is often confused with interior decoration, she noted that interior design is the art of understanding people’s behaviour and requirements to design a functional space that will satisfy their needs.
“Interior decorators furnish these spaces but are not involved in planning designs. Interior Designers can decorate, but interior decorators cannot execute the interior design of spaces, the reason for its study as a four-year course in the university, she said.
She explained that in 2019, she led a special task force with 15 professors and educators from all over the world to review the global Interior Design Education Policy.
According to her, this timely project was finalised in February 2020 as a comprehensive, future-focused, inclusive and globally relevant Interior Design Education Policy.
“These guidelines create the basis for evaluating future curricula and accreditation of Interior Design education programs worldwide. The previous document, which came into force in 1979, did not consider developing regions like Africa and a technological world,” she added.
The President of IDAN, Jennifer Chukwujekwe, said more vocational schools are needed in Nigeria with international technical expertise to train world-class artisans.
She said the lack of painters and plumbers among others is a major challenge facing the interior design industry.