The Nation Newspaper

Tag: CONSTRUCTION

  • Oil field owners urged to lead modular refinery construction

    Oil field owners urged to lead modular refinery construction

    To address the challenges facing modular refinery construction in Nigeria, industry stakeholders have urged indigenous exploration and production companies, which own producing oil fields, to drive the initiative.

    Head, Energy Research Desk, Ecobank Plc, Mr. Dolapo Oni, said companies such as Seplat, Shoreline and Neconde should be leading modular refinery development. He noted that any investor, who wants to do  modular refinery that would produce different forms of fuel, including aviation kerosene for the purpose of selling locally and for export,  will face a big challenge if he is not a crude oil producer.

    He said: “If you look at refineries that have been developed in Nigeria that are successful, it is only one – Niger Delta Petroleum Resources Limited (NDPR). They own the field and built their refinery on their field, process their own crude and produce diesel at the rate they sell,” adding that it is the only model that can work for us here.

    Oni stressed the need to build refineries that can process crude from anywhere and any type of crude. He said: “You don’t just build refineries that can only process the Nigerian crude,” adding that:  “If you are not able to get constant supply of crude, that becomes a challenge to the refinery.”

    To him, one of the challenges facing the development of modular refineries in the country is sourcing for funds outside the country. He said Nigerian banks do not have much funds, and are already pressured by existing facilities to the oil and gas sector and cannot expand more.

    According to him, only a few of the top banks can provide some lending to the oil and gas sector, and refinery funding will be a challenge locally.

    “What it means in getting foreign funding is that you have to look at countries where refineries are gradually declining and they are looking to shift all that investments to somewhere else, countries like France and Italy.

    “Also, you look at countries that can provide export credit. For example, you can buy from the United States and they will be able to fund it, so with that you can actually bring it and refine it in Nigeria and, over time, you can pay them back.

    “But again, all these things, to some extent, require government’s guarantee as well. Government’s guarantee of crude feedstock was not for free because what some of them are asking is that they want government to guarantee them free crude not that they will not pay, but they will pay after the sale,” he said, adding that it can not work now.

    “Government should be able to guarantee that we get the crude to your refinery, but you must pay for the crude when it comes to you,” he insisted.

    He continued:“It will be a very big challenge because it means that products from the refineries have to be sold in dollars to foreign countries because you will pay back your funders in dollars.”

    Oni said banks were always looking for money to support the industry, adding that they would want to lend if they have the money and as long as the risks could be mitigated. According to him, banks are constantly talking with some foreign banks to complement the opportunity for lending, and more importantly, with participants in the industry.

    Ecobank, he said, had championed most of the modular refinery projects that had come up recently, adding it is talking to some of the foreign banks on how to raise money to assist them. “We look for possibilities of putting some money in them in terms of lending. We are trying our best and the best we can do is to talk to other foreign banks to see where we can get money for them,” he added.

    On revoking the licences of non-performing modular refineries, the Chairman, Integrated Oil and Gas Limited, Capt. Emmanuel Ihenacho, said the Federal Government should jettison the idea and focus on how to revitalise those refineries for optimum performance.

    He said the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) should be more concerned with how the operators start refining crude oil in the country and not clamping on them. DPR regulates the activities of the oil and gas industry.

    According to him, the DPR was stating the obvious when it said only two out of the 48 modular refinery licensees were working,  urging the DPR to temper justice with mercy over licensees whose refineries are yet to begin production.

    Speaking at a stakeholders’ forum in Lagos, he said the issue of optimising crude oil processing is what the country needs now  and not looking for scapegoats. Many firms have not been able to use their licences due to their inability to get funding from banks and other sources.

    Iheanacho said: “It is not that many operators do not want to process crude oil, but they do not have the means to do it. The funds are not just there. The local banks are not ready to provide them facility. When an operator goes to the bank, the banks give excuses. Owning and operating a modular refinery can cost even up to $2billion excluding getting a land for the project and carrying out due process on the project. At a point, the loan seekers would get frustrated by the antics of the banks, and before you know it, the licensee would abandon the idea of operating the refinery.”

    He said a modular refinery can be upgraded to suit the needs and the yearnings of its customers, adding that the refinery’s capacity can be upgraded to deliver 20,000 or 50,000 or even 100,000 barrels per day.

    Iheanacho said modular refineries have unique features as evident by the ways and manners their sizes and capacities are configured to meet the needs of their operators at any given time.

    DPR’s Deputy Director, Mr. Olumide Adeleke, said the government has given operators enough time to plan for the project, stressing that it is in the tradition of the agency to handle issues pertaining to the industry well. He said the government would not hesitate to carry out its oversight functions in the area of maintaining and promoting standards in the sector.

  • ‘CBN’s forex policy killing construction’

    •Surveyors canvass use of local materials

    Except urgent measures are taken to encourage the use of local building materials, the construction industry will remain in doldrums, stakeholders have said.

    They spoke at the ninth Annual Distinguished Lecture of the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS), Lagos Chapter.

    At the lecture themed: “Foreign exchange problems, prospects and solutions in Nigeria: Construction industry perspective,” participants called for the use of local building materials.

    The guest lecturer, Henry Boyo, in his presentation, titled: “For the successful resolution of oppressive contradictions in Nigeria’s economy”, said: “It is appalling that the country has become so poor, despite her abundant human and material resources.”

    He said the distress in the economy, based on available evidence, is  a function of “too much money supply,” of the naira, and foreign currencies.

    Boyo said the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) failure to manage an “irrepressibly” surplus naira supply has continued to stimulate a higher inflation rate for several years. This, he explained, has serious consequences on the purchasing power of the persons whose incomes are in naira.

    He emphasised that the naira and the economy would remain stagnant as long as the CBN persistently auctions the dollar against the naira in a market that is suffocated by excess naira supply, created by the apex bank’s unilateral substitution of naira allocations for distributable dollar-denominated revenue.

    “Thus, CBN’s forex interventions are, in fact, deliberate and a suicidal approach to gradually kill the naira, since the CBN would consciously sell its dollar stock for higher naira bids in such auctions. In this situation, the banks flourish, while the rest of the economy wrestles with deepening poverty,” Boyo said.

    The Lagos NIQS Chairman, Mr. Bamidele Mafimidiwo, agrees with Boyo on the effect of foreign exchange (forex) on the industry.

    He explained that the lingering forex problems had caused a huge disruption to businesses in the sector, a situation that has been compounded by the recession. This has grounded new construction projects, leaving builders and suppliers in difficult financial positions, he added.

    To transform the economy and boost industrial activity, Mafimidiwo said there was the need to restructure the monetary framework.

    “Construction, housing, infrastructure, manufacturing, mortgage and other business activities of tangible output represent the construction industry and today’s forum is to provide a platform to x-ray the industry vis-a-vis the meltdown effects and chart a way forward for the sector,” he said.

    Yet, other stakeholders are convinced that the use of local materials for construction projects is the easiest way out of the scathing effect of forex on the sector. This position was shared by a former President of NIQS, Mr. Oluwasegun Ajanlekoko. He said with the use of local materials, importation would be reduced to the barest minimum.

    “It is about time we stopped using blocks when it comes to affordable housing.  We have large reservoir of clay and that is far cheaper, durable and more environment friendly. To solve the problems of exchange rate, we are appealing to CBN to give discretionary interest rates to those in the construction industry,’’ he said.

    Similarly, Executive Director, UACN Property Development Company Plc (UPDC), Yemi Ejidiran, said the forex challenge affected Grade A and B residential projects. “The government should encourage production of most of our finishing materials locally.  We also need to come up with efficient designs, as it is clear that banks are not ready to finance any real estate project,” he said.

  • Logic of roads construction and maintenance

    The Federal Roads maintenance Agency (FERMA) placed advertisements in The Nation of Tuesday May 9 apparently to demonstrate to those of us who are asking if the agency has folded up or has been wound up by the federal government that created it that it is alive. This agency seems to exist in the minds of those who created it and in the minds of the hordes of civil servants earning their living without doing anything to justify the salaries being paid to them. Even the advertisement referred to is full of lies.

    The agency claims to be rehabilitating Ife-Ibadan “Express way”. I travel on this road every week and I can confirm no work has been done on this road. In fact, the approach to Osun River Bridge near Asejire is so bad that a few vehicles have plunged into the river because of the bad approach to the bridge. The road from Ikire to Ilesha is hardly motorable. I also noticed that what the agency calls South-west zone apparently does not include Ondo and Ekiti states whose federal roads have been abandoned and the people there left to their own fate and yet those neglected two states produce the bulk of the cocoa Nigeria still exports and from which some billions of dollars are earned annually.

    I recently travelled from Lagos to Sagamu following the blockade of the Lagos-Ibadan express way as a result of religious activities on the express way. I was sad about what I saw on that road. It is perhaps correct to call the “road “a bush path. Driving on the road was like driving on the moon. Yet this was the first road the British constructed in Nigeria. I saw thousands of trailers and other kinds of vehicular contraptions whose drivers took their lives in their hands to drive through the road. It took me five hours to ply a road of perhaps 60 kilometres. I kept asking myself – where is the federal government? Where are Lagos and Ogun state governments?  This Ikorodu-Sagamu road is so strategic to the economy of not only the South-west but the whole country. It is not just the economy that this road is vital to; it is also strategic in defence consideration. What if Lagos suffered a sea invasion and it was necessary to move troops from the hinterland to the coast in case the enemy blocks the express way?

    The major power generating station of Egbin is along this route. Sagamu is a major cement producing hub, necessitating movement of huge articulated trucks to and from Lagos for construction.  Ikorodu itself is a putative port waiting for development. There is an army barracks on the road as well and Ikorodu area has witnessed incessant attacks and challenge by terrorists in recent times. If one may say the area is part of the Niger Delta which is increasingly becoming the soft under belly of Nigeria. If all these are not enough to attract government attention, there are innumerable small factories of iron and steel makers converting used and discarded vehicles into useable iron implements. There are also secondary and tertiary institutions in the axis.

    Planning roads construction and maintenance should not be done haphazardly or merely on federal character basis but on its utility value to the economy and security of the nation. I know our resources are limited but this is why there must be some kind of rationalization in the use of these resources. I lived in Germany for about five years and as many people know, Germany has the best network of roads in the world. The famous Autobahn (express roads) run from north to south and from east to west. They were largely constructed like their old railways to move troops from east to west and vice versa to confront their enemies on two fronts. Adolph Hitler may conveniently be forgotten by the Germans and the whole world, but he left a legacy of these roads and the small affordable people’s cars (Volkswagen) to ply them. Walter Ulbricbht, the communist leader of East Germany (DDR) came up with the plastic car the “Trabant “in a miserable mimicry of the NAZI dictator. No one can deny that the efficient transportation network of Germany is a major factor in the economic miracle Germany witnessed since the end of the Second World War.

    The point I am trying to make is that roads construction reflect a strategist worldview and goals he hopes to achieve and not just constructing roads as social welfare scheme.

    We need to take a holistic view of our road network and seriously plan what we hope to achieve. I will give a few examples .There is a need to have four arterial roads running from north to south in this country. One road should run from Sokoto through Kotangora to Kaiama, Iseyin, and Abeokuta to the port of Badagry. Another road should run from Kano to Kaduna, Abuja, Lokoja, Okene to Benin.  Another should run from Abuja to Minna, Mokwa, Ilorin, Ibadan, Lagos while the fourth should run from Maiduguri to Yola, Jalingo, Makurdi, Ogoja to Calabar.

    Then there is a need for an East-West road from Lagos, Sagamu, Ijebu-ode, Benin, Asaba, Onitsha, Enugu, Aba, Port Harcourt. There is also a need for a coastal road from Lagos through Igbokoda, Warri, Yenagoa, Port Harcourt, terminating in Calabar. This may appear a gigantic order but it is always better to plan big. In China, the country initially relied on harnessing its huge human resources rather than its technological know-how to build roads, dams and houses. I do not see why with a serious government, Nigeria cannot do the same.

    We are told that we have a population of 180 million people. Of course, I remain sceptical about this apparently exaggeratedly fabricated figure! To challenge the demographic cheaters, those who inflate population of their states should be asked to mobilize such population figures for development. The factor of economic necessity rather than the nebulous federal character determining what roads to construct and maintaining should be paramount. If the federal government were to stick to this kind of strategic conception and planning, then roads construction and maintenance will begin to make sense.

    Other feeder roads will have to be devolved into the zonal authorities in a hopefully restructured Nigeria with devolved resources and responsibilities.  But in the meantime, something has to be done to fix roads that are vital to economic recovery. I do not see what will be wrong if Lagos and Ogun states governments were to collaborate in fixing this Sagamu – Ikorodu road and then jointly billing the federal government or getting private entrepreneurs in to reconstruct the road and toll it.  This terrible state of most roads in Nigeria would have to be addressed as a matter of urgency because as I write, people are dying on these dilapidated roads.

    This road master plan should go hand in hand with a new railway age in Nigeria in which road transportation should not be the major way of moving people and goods around the country. There is no major developing country that depends on one mode of transportation. If we are aspiring to be one of the 20 biggest economies in the world, we cannot be enduring this primitive and almost primordial transportation system that even our grandparents would recognize especially the fact that our roads follow the same footpaths established by our illiterate ancestors.

  • OPIC begins construction of housing units

    Ogun state Property and Investment Corporation (OPIC) has started the construction of the first phase of OPIC’s affordable housing units in New Makun City, Ogun state that would deliver 400 houses before the end of the year through technologically based building method under the NMRC mortgage scheme.

    Addressing pressmen on the commitments of his organisation at plotting the scheme in Ogun state, the Managing Director, OPIC, Mr. Babajide Odusolu said: “Despite the economic recession, we will have new development in New Makun City, Exclusive growth, Exclusive development. This new development no doubt will align with the approved master plan of the City which zones, integrates exiting system, operations, communities and indeed everything.”

    The OPIC boss noted that the Corporation had mobilised competent contractors, private developers and accredited mortgage banks for successful accomplishment of the NMRC/OPIC mortgage scheme in the state, for speedy completion of the first phase of the project.

    “These institution have come to terms with OPIC to make housing affordable through highly subsidised mortgages by the government, enabling the general populace to explore the single digit interest mortgage loans spread over a long period  of time, in line with the OPIC/NMRC Family Homes Funds (FHF) mortgage plans,” said Odusolu.

  • We’ll begin construction of three new general hospitals this year — Ambode

    We’ll begin construction of three new general hospitals this year — Ambode

    Lagos State governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, on Friday said that plans were already underway to commence construction of three new ultra modern general hospitals in the state this year to improve healthcare delivery.

    Governor Ambode, who spoke at the second quarterly Town Hall Meeting for the year and seventh in the series held at Shibiri/Ekunpa Area Office in Oto-Awori Local Council Development Area (LCDA), said the state government was already concluding the necessary paperwork before the contractors would move to site.

    The governor, who took time to field  questions from community leaders, traditional rulers, market women, youth leaders and party leaders in the area, said the decision to bring the Town Hall Meeting to Oto-Awori LCDA was in continuation of his commitment to leave no community behind in the development of the state.

    He said he was also in the area to listen to the requests of the people in the axis and see how his administration could respond accordingly.

    Responding to the request for a general hospital to be constructed in the area,  Ambode said three new facilities have been catered for in the 2017 budget.

    “In the budget, we have designated general hospitals for three areas and Ojo Local Government is one of them. It is in the pipeline and  we are already closing in on it,” he said.

    Ambode also assured that efforts would be made to improve healthcare service delivery in the riverine area in Oto Awori, saying that residents in such areas have remained relevant in the government’s achievements over the years.

    “This area is traditionally and historically known to be a major supporter of government and we must give back to them for the support which they have always been known for,” he said.

    The governor also acceded to the request of the residents for the rehabilitation of the access roads linking the area to the Alimosho General Hospital which they currently use pending the construction of a nearby general hospital.

    He, therefore, directed the state Public Works Corporation to immediately fix the roads to improve accessibility to the facility.

    Besides, the governor directed contractors handling several ongoing road projects across the state to return to their various sites or risk having their contracts terminated, saying that his administration would not tolerate any form of laxity in project delivery.

    “I like the idea of bringing to the fore the issue of uncompleted projects. If we are able to do a link bridge in 11 months, if we are able to do Ajah flyover in 13 months and Abule Egba flyover in 13 months and we are going to commission all of them next month, how can these roads be there forever? So, obviously we should use the same spirit of delivering service to do all the outstanding roads. The ministry of works must go back to these sites, I must know what is going on within the next few days,” the governor said.

    He listed some of the projects to include Mile 10 Road, Mowo Road, Tedi Road, Ilaje Road, GoriolaOseni Road, Sabo Mosafejo Road and ImudeOrisa Road where only 1.5km of the road was covered by the contractor.

    “These are contracts already awarded. It is for our own contractors to go there and finish the job, so the responsibility is on us to make sure you deliver these roads within the shortest possible time,” he said.

    Ambode also said that he had approved all the mini waterworks across the state, numbering about 41 to function optimally within the next 12 weeks to ensure that residents have access to clean and portable water.

    Addressing issues concerning the physically challenged, the governor directed that the Civil Service Commission and the Local Government Civil Service Commission should put modalities in place to employ at least 250 physically challenged persons into the state civil service.

    He also ordered the chairman of the state’s sports commission to offset all arrears of allowances owed the physically challenged athletes in the state next week.

    Projecting for the next quarter, Governor Ambode said the government would kick-start the implementation of the Cleaner Lagos Initiative, implement the construction of 181 roads across the 57 LGs/LCDAs, complete the Abule-Egba and Ajah flyover bridges, further signalization of Lekki – Ajah express road and continuation of road network upgrade in all the three senatorial zones.

  • Transforming Ogun through road construction

    SIR: The presence of citizens of Ogun State, especially the optimists, who have been following the developmental trend of the Senator Ibikunle Amosun administration. It is a surprise to the pessimists who have wondered – ‘where will the fund come from?’

    While many states of the federation battle with payment of salaries of staff, Ogun State Government has continued to pay its workers’ salaries as and when due without leaving other developmental projects unattended to.

    The on-going ‘Ogun standard ‘roads construction work witnessed across the three senatorial districts of the state which has the ability to transform the state into an industrial hub is worth mentioning. The massive springing up of industries in the state confirms that road construction is a need in the present Ogun State and not a want using the basic secondary school knowledge of economics. The planning of any major transportation network should be preceded by economic calculations of the benefits to be derived which could either be direct, to the road users, or indirect, the economic value it will add.

    The question that I cannot stop asking myself is ‘When will our people understand the difference between needs and wants in setting priority?  Basic fundamental   understanding of economics is enough to help a lame man differentiate between his needs and his wants.

    The presence of construction companies on different roads across the three senatorial districts is a development that should gladden the heart of any lover of progress that Ogun State would be better off in the nearest future. Some of the Ogun Standard roads under construction are; Lafenwa-Ayetoro road, Sango-Ijoko road, Ilishan-Ago-Iwoye road-bridge, Atan-Agbara road, Ilo-Awela road, Magboro township road among others.

    There wouldn’t have been a better time to give priority to projects that can attract investors into the state with the purpose of increasing its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). Apart from shaping the environment and giving it a good new look, good road system has the capacity to shape the development of the state. Little will one wonder why it is referred to as the bedrock of any economy.

    For this and many other developmental projects embarked upon by the State Government, I say kudos to the Senator Amosun-led government.

     

    • Gbemisola Salau,

    Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State.

  • FG to tackle high project costing in construction sector

    FG to tackle high project costing in construction sector

    The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, has called for a systematic approach in ensuring proper project costing to tackle high cost of projects and corruption in the construction sector.

    Fashola made the call at the 2017 Annual National Project cost Reduction Summit organised by the Quantity Surveyors Registration Board of Nigeria (QSRBN) on Thursday in Abuja.

    The Summit has the Theme: “Fighting Corruption through Proper Project Costing in Nigeria’’.

    The Minister, who was represented by Mr Sani Gidado, Director Public Building and Housing, Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, said this would guarantee the availability of more funds for the development of infrastructure.

    “The economy will be enabled to appropriate the maximum benefits from this strategic sector by ensuring efficient allocation and utilisation of resources in this manner.

    “All stakeholders have a duty to ensure value for money through proper projects costing in this all pervasive sector.”

    Fashola said that one of the root causes for high costs of projects in the construction sector was corruption in the form of deliberate inflation of cost to satisfy pecuniary interests.

    According to him, decayed infrastructure is one of the indices of underdevelopment that corruption promotes in a nation.

    “The construction sector is one of the most important in any economy because of the profound effects of the activities of that sector on the overall national economy.

    “Apart from its known capacity to generate employment on a large scale, its huge multiplier effect on the economy stand it out as one of the leading sector of economic development.

    “Not only is it capable of pulling an economy out of recession; it is always handy in reflating a depressed economy’’ he said.

    The Registrar, QSRBN, Mr Godson Moneke, said that the costs of constructing projects in Nigeria are rated among the highest compared to other countries in the world.

    He said that corruption and lack of patriotism have caused Nigeria to lag behind her peers in all indices of development, industrial product and human-centred development.

    “Our hearts bleed for Nigeria when we watch with amazement as monies which could achieve three units of projects achieve only one, while the rest are shamelessly diverted for fraudulent appropriation.

    “To stem this anomaly, QSRBN is in the forefront of advocating the establishment of costing templates for all categories of construction projects across Nigeria.

    “Such templates should create a cost bands/ranges for roads, bridges, railways, public buildings housing projects among others showing central tendencies, environmental zones and geological zones’’.

    Moneke said that the summit was a way out of corruption which was induced by inflated project cost in the construction industry.

    According to him, the summit was aimed at bringing some sanity into this important sector so that it can play its rightful role as a leading sector of economic development.

    In his speech, Prof. Femi Odekunle, Member, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), said that in the current fight against corruption, the QSRBN should be commended for conceiving and executing this summit on corruption.

    He said that the committee’s engagement with professional bodies was justified by the fact that in this country many professionals are collaborators in the perpetration of medium–to-large-scale corruption.

    “In actual fact, and perhaps needless to say, there is hardly any instance of such corruption that could succeed without the collaboration of a surveyor, architect and engineer before or after the fact,’’ he Odekunle.

  • Ambode begins construction of six new arts theatres

    Ambode begins construction of six new arts theatres

    •Inaugurates Board of Arts and Culture

    Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode on Wednesday said the state government has begun the construction of six new arts theatres as part of efforts to engage the youths and promote tourism through arts and entertainment.

    The governor who disclosed this while inaugurating a Board of Arts and Culture for the state, said the state was also spearheading the initiatives to transform the National Museum and the iconic National Arts Theatre into world class centers of history, tourism arts and entertainment.

    The theatres, which would be situated across Badagry, Epe, Ikorodu, Alimosho and on the Mainland, the governor said, would be up and running before the end of this year.

    He said the inauguration of the Board was in line with his vision to explore private sector support to nurture new talents and generate events for a sustainable development of the creative arts sector in the state.

    Ambode said despite the achievements already recorded in the sector since assumption of his administration, there was still so much to be done if the state will achieve its aim to become a global hub for music, theatre and film.

    “The commitment of our administration to harness the huge creative talents that abound in the State in the fields of Arts, Culture, Entertainment and Sports has never been in doubt. The ultimate goal is to use all of these to drive tourism, create employment and increase the contribution of the non-oil sector to the state’s gross domestic product.

    “The Council for Arts and Culture which we have just inaugurated has a huge responsibility to translate our vision in this regard to reality,” she said.

    Members of Board include, arts aficionado, Mrs. Polly Alakija as Chairman, with veteran thespian, Mrs. Joke Silva, multiple award winning actor and movie producer, Mr. Kunle Afolayan, influential visual artist, Mr. Kolade Oshinowo and  foremost artist and designer, Chief Mrs. Nike Davies Okundaye as members.

    Others are Mobee of Badagry, High Chief Patrick Yodenu, Mobee, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Mr. Adesina Odeyemi and Director of Culture at the Lagos State Council for Arts and Culture, Mrs. Saidat Otulana.

    Ambode said the Board would among other things, be expected to ensure the sustainable management of arts and culture facilities and infrastructures in the State and create a sustainable framework for the sector.

    While urging the Board to generate local and international events to showcase and promote the State’s diverse talents in the field of creative arts, music, entertainment and sports, he tasked them to promote and preserve the rich cultural heritage while being sensitive to the diverse cultures of the citizens of the State.

    Besides, Governor Ambode said that in recognition of the enormous responsibilities the Board would be saddled with, his administration ensured that only seasoned professionals, notable and respected personalities were chosen to serve on the council.

    He said the inauguration of the Board, coming on the heels of the 50-day event countdown of the State’s Golden Jubilee celebration, showed the total commitment of his administration to put the arts and culture sector in the right perspective.

    Ambode also thanked members of the Board for accepting to serve the State.

    Speaking on behalf of the new appointees, Mrs. Polly Alakija thanked Governor Ambode for reposing confidence on her and other Board members, assuring that they would stop at nothing to make great impact in the lives of young people through arts, culture and creative sector.

    She also assured of the commitment of the Board to explore all areas of possibilities to achieve the set out objectives to make the arts and entertainment sector evolve as a revenue generating mechanism for the State.

  • NIOB seeks better professionalism in construction industry

    The Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) has reiterated the need for builders to hone and sharpen their skills in the core area of building production management. The body also called for the quick passage of the bill for the enforcement of the Nigerian National Building Code.

    The NIOB, arising from its 2017 Mandatory Continuous Professional Development (MCPD) programme held across four locations of Lagos, Abuja, Katsina and Uyo, made the call in a communiqué it issued at the end of the workshop. The communique was signed by the Chairman, Professional Development and Practice Committee of NIOB, Mr. Kunle Awobodu.

    The workshop, themed: “Site Management Practices for Builders,” also had as sub themes: “Concept of Site Management;” “Construction Methodology;” and “Construction Programming using Primavera 6.”

    The NIOB, noted in the communique obtained by The Nation, that government should take steps against such environmentally unacceptable characters manifesting in the form of social miscreants, land grabbers, the “omo onile” menace as these were already affecting the delivery time of projects.

    The NIOB commended the Lagos state government for its proactiveness in this aspect, urging other states to emulate the gesture.

    While admonishing its members on ensuring proper construction layout to avoid fatalities, accidents, waste and double-handling at sites, it recommended that construction site layouts should be well defined and designed at the commencement of a building construction project by a registered builder. It urged the public to take advantage of temporary site layout planning for building construction works as rendered by builders.

    The body noted that collapsed buildings were as a result of unrealistic and unprofessionally projected timeframes.

    The communique read in part: “Nigerian public and private clients are enjoined and required to embrace the use of Construction Methodology Document duly prepared by registered builders for their building construction works. Registered builders are equally enjoined to prepare this critical document on all their building projects for all public and private entities.”

    Furthermore, stakeholders at the workshop submitted that “while the construction methodology is a precursor to the preparation of construction programme, a construction programme has implication on time, cost, resource deployment, safety and even the legal status of a project. Some collapsed buildings are attributable to unrealistic and unprofessionally projected time frames. Consequently, the Workshop enjoins all public and private sectors procuring and executing entities to request for and use Construction Programme duly prepared by registered builders for time and other resource management.”

    The communique submitted that poor project record keeping affects future projections of projects. Additionally, poor house-keeping (project site cleaning) can lead to avoidable hazards on project sites. Consequently, there should be proper record keeping of different activities during and after the life span of a project. Proper house- keeping should be planned and cost into the project as routine practices and should start as soon as the building project starts. Builders should enhance these best practices on their projects while clients should play their roles accordingly.

    Participants at the workshop were taken through first principles, real life case studies and simulations.

  • Construction of varsity campus takes off

    Construction of varsity campus takes off

    Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed has launched the construction of the N1.5 billion College of Social Sciences and Environmental Studies campus of the state university in Ekiti Local Government.
    Ahmed said the execution of critical projects was an eloquent testimony that the Infrastructure Development Fund (IFK) model has strengthened the capacity of the government to meet its obligations.
    The governor promised that the government will expand access to quality education, hoping that the College of Social Sciences and Environmental Studies, Ekiti Campus, would breed scientists and thinkers that would proffer solutions to national problems and meet global competitive market in the 21st century.
    He enjoined the people to elevate communal interests above personal interest to attract development.
    Vice Chancellor of the Kwara State University Prof. Abdulrasheed Na’Allah said with the establishment of Ekiti Campus, the university had begun its final journey of operating three and improving access to university education.