The President of Nigerian Institute of Architects, NIA, Tonye Braide has blamed the colossal abandonment of about N15 trillion worth of public projects in the last decade on corruption in the construction sector.
Braide who revealed this at the Council Meeting of Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria, APBN in Abuja, said “ the institute is playing a leading role in the fight against corruption in the construction industry.”
He maintained, “they are going to deliberate over the issues at the Anti-Corruption Workshop in order to create a road-map to assist government to recover its dilapidating assets in the industry.”
“The Institute would strive towards building stronger partnerships and collaboration with all professional bodies. However, NIA is faced with the growing army of unregistered professionals who are practicing architecture informally.”
NIA President therefore, explained that they intended to set up a think tank to proffer solutions to bridging the gaps in the training as well as formalize its intended membership in the country.
He regretted, “We are equally alarmed at the falling standard of fresh graduates from our institutions. It appears that some curricula are no longer at par with the requirements of modern times. We may seek the intervention of APBN to collectively address this problem.”
Earlier, the President of APBN,Foluso Fasoto had stated, “In recent times, the Nigerian professionals have been sidelined on issues affecting the growth and development of the nation Nigeria and this has not allowed them to proof their competence in their chosen profession.”
To Fasoto, the government would rather import professionals to carry out what millions of Nigerians are trained to do for the fatherland. All over the globe, professionals pave way for economic growth of the nation. Nigeria cannot be an exception.”
He thus, urged the President Muhammadu Buhari led government to urgently embark on the deliberate and strategic endeavours to develop more sector of the economy such as solid minerals, agriculture as well as build the requisite industrial infrastructure here.
