The Nigerian Institute of Builders (NIOB) national president, Kunle Awobodu, has said that safeguarding society’s interest in the construction, maintenance and preservation of building stock remains a logical expectation of Nigerians from professional builders.
Awobodu, who spoke at the first ever virtual induction of members into the fellowship cadre of the institute, noted that the building delivery process from design to construction was based on teamwork, with each team member playing his part.
The national president, along with the Chairman of its College of Fellows, Adebolanle Araba, challenged its new Fellows on the high expectations of the society from the profession.
“The Nigerian society stands to gain optimally when it realises and accepts that building production management is a distinct professional service rendered by builders,” Awobodu said, reminding the participants of the building delivery process.
He lamented that, for too long, the society has been misinformed about the process. He noted that while the impression had been created in the past that the designs of buildings are services rendered by specialists, the construction of the building has been wrongly presented as a service that any unlettered, untrained but ambitious and connected individual can do.
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“This anomaly has been the bane of housing and building delivery process that has earned Nigeria the unenviable reputation of a nation with seemingly unending building collapse incidents, Awobodu said.
With every sense of responsibility to protect lives and property, she said, only registered builders are charged by Nigerian law with building construction, maintenance, and deconstruction, charging the inductees to bring their wealth of experience to bear in policy formulation and mentoring of younger professionals.
Araba, who set the tone for the induction, indicating its distinctive and unprecedented nature, reminded the inductees that they were joining the cadre of the finest minds and most experienced hands in the building profession.
“You admission into the College of Fellows should not be seen from a cosmetic and superficial perspective but one with onerous responsibility. The NIOB College of Fellows is the conscience of the profession and its members have to provide leadership for ensuring a brighter future for the good of the inductees and the society at large,” she said.
She explained that the College of Fellows remains the engine room for innovation and positive transformation and enjoined the conferees to leave a worthy legacy for future generations.
In his remarks, the Chairman of the Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON), Kabir Bala, said the NIOB constitution stipulates that a corporate member of the institute aspiring to proceed to Fellows’ cadre must have been licensed as a registered builder by CORBON.
The high point of the induction was the oath taking which evoked joyful emotions. While the Secretary of the College of Fellows, who is also the Honorary General Secretary of the NIOB, Christopher Belonwu reeled out the names of the conferees, the NIOB Legal Adviser, Fred Ogugua, administered the oath on the conferees.
Olatunde Jaiyesimi, a builder and engineer, who was the Chairman of the Activities Committee of the NIOB College of Fellows, expressed satisfaction with the innovative nature of the event, reminding the conferees to be good ambassadors of the profession while promoting team building spirit among the entire built environment professionals.
The NIOB fellows induction was witnessed by leading lights from within and outside the profession and even beyond the shores of Nigeria. Among the guests was a past National Vice President of the Australian Institute of Building (AIB), Graham Teede, who observed that despite the advantage of excellent network connectivity in Australia, the AIB could still learn from the bold step of NIOB that has upgraded most of its activities to virtual realm in order to overcome global shortcomings created by COVID-19 pandemic.
