Why we need govt for mass housing
– Dola Arilesere, President, Institute of
Builders
By PETER ANOSIKE
Monday, January 28, 2008
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•Arilesere
Photo: Sun News Publishing |
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The Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) is worried over
the spate of building collapse in the country. It has, however,
absolved its members from any blame, heaping the fault on
the activities of quacks and non-professionals who have encroached
in the business of building.
President of the Institute, Dola Arilesere, who would rather
prefer to be addressed as Builder Arilesere, said professional
builders should be involved in building and advised other
professionals in the building industry to restrict their services
to their areas of training to avoid incidences.
He said: “There should be no need for usurption of roles
by professionals. Our roles are all complementary. The only
way out is that we should know our limitations and confine
ourselves to it.”
He said it was the duty of the government to provide housing
accommodation for the people and pointed out that in many
countries where there have been minimal housing problem, it
has often been blamed on government intervention.
His words: “It is very possible for every Nigerian to
have a house of his own but you can agree with me that it
is the responsibility of government. If you go all over the
world where ever there are minimal housing problem, it has
been the responsibility of the government of the country.
That is the reason I am not comfortable with the Federal Government
reform programme of divesting itself from the provision of
housing for the people.” Arilesere, who is the 40th
president of the Nigerian Institute of Building, also spoke
on the housing institution at 40 and on other related issues.
Background
My name is Builder Dola Arilesere, National President,
Nigerian Institute of Building. I was born 52 years ago on
Lagos Island. I attended St Patrick’s Catholic School,
Lagos and Ahmadiya College in Agege, also in Lagos. Later,
I went briefly to University of Lagos, Akoka and withdrew
to Yaba College of Technology where I did Higher National
Diploma in Building. After many years, I topped my academic
qualification with a Masters in Business Administration. What
inspired me into going to study building was because I had
always admired builders, engineers and architects. Another
thing is that I feel that I was created to be a builder going
by my name Arilesere, that by interpretation means one who
has his mansion to play in.
When I told my parents of my decision to study Building they
liked the idea. I told them that the reason I did not want
to go into engineering was because it has become common and
that the Building that I want to go into is related to engineering,
architecture and quantity surveying, they said that I should
go if I am sure of a bright future in the area.
The Institute
Nigerian Institute of Building and the Nigerian Society of
Engineers are complementary. You know that building requires
teamwork. On a construction project, we need construction
professionals like builders, architects, quantity surveyors,
engineers and so on. Therefore, it is not a duplication of
engineering. The engineers have their role to play. The architects,
the builders, the quantity surveyors, all have their roles
to play in the building construction and the roles are complementary.
The specific role of a builder in building is production management,
which means putting together the materials that would be used
to put up a building structure. So, the unique role of a builder
is building production management and it involves construction
of new buildings, maintenance of existing buildings and protection
of mankind.
Builders and construction
In fact, the National Building Code has made it clear that
the professional to manage a building on site is the builder.
Of course, the engineers come to the site frequently to supervise
and ensure that construction conform to their design. The
architects are also supposed to visit the construction site
to ensure that construction conform to their architectural
design. But on the construction site on a daily basis, the
professional that you are supposed to see is the builder.
Quacks in the profession
At the Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria, we have
been saying that professionals should know their limitation.
Do not go into an area you are not specialized in. For instance,
as a builder, if I am given a job of an architect, I will
turn it down immediately and tell the person that I am an
expert on building production management and not on design.
I will tell him, if he needs somebody on design, look for
an architect or I will take him to some of my friends who
are architects. The truth is that there should be no need
for usurpation of roles by professionals. Our roles are all
complementary. We work as a team. We work together. None of
the professionals can exist alone. The only way out is that
we should know our limitation and confine ourselves to it.
My vision as the president of the association
My vision for the Nigerian Institute of Building, which coincides,
with the vision of the association, is to take the association
to a greater height. I want to make the association the clear
leader in the construction industry, particularly when you
talk about building construction. The construction industry
is very large. We talk about road construction, bridge construction,
construction of stadia but when you talk about construction
of building, the vision of the Nigeria Institute of Building,
which coincides with my vision, is to make sure that the association
becomes a clear leader in the housing construction industry.
Our hope is that sooner, Nigerians will benefit from the unique
knowledge of the builder because it is the builder who is
trained and licensed to carry out building production management
and the main focus of building production management is putting
together building materials component to form structures.
Spate of building collapse
Surprisingly, the members of the Nigerian Institute of Building
are not surprised at all by the spate of building collapse
in the country. The reason is this, for the past 10 years,
we have been shouting about quacks in the construction industry.
We have been warning that people should involve professional
builders in the construction of their houses and we have discovered
after a long investigation and research that no single collapsed
building involved a builder and that is a credit to the Nigerian
Institute of Building. What I am saying is that for the past
10 years, NIOB has been shouting stop using quacks to construct
your houses, it would be a disaster.
They felt that we are alarmist or people shouting wolf, while
there was none but unfortunately, we are now having the disasters.
The federal, state and local governments are now realizing
that it is essential to allow professional builders to manage
buildings on site .The National Building Code has specified
that the person to manage the construction of building on
site is the professional builder. The code said that professional
builders must manage all buildings. But if you are building
a small bungalow, the law is not very strict on that. You
can have one professional to manage the activities. Authority
tends to over look when a bungalow for a private individual
is being constructed because it is assumed that the person
is not very rich to hire the services of all the professionals
required. Moreover, the building is very small, just a bungalow
Role in the National Housing Programme
About the National Housing policy and the implementation of
the provision of the policy as well as the National Housing
Conference, we have contributed a lot to the formulation of
the policy. We always send our members to the meetings of
the National Conference on Housing. They make suggestions.
We ensure that federal, state and local governments involve
builders when they are discussing housing .We always try to
make them realize that the mistake of not involving professional
builders will lead to failure of buildings. Of course, some
buildings may fail but not collapse. The worst case of failure
is collapse. The cases of failure that do not lead to collapse
is as a result of non-involvement of building professionals
at various levels but we keep on attending meetings of the
federal, state and local governments and telling them. Some
of the time, they listen. They reason with us and they have
started to implement our recommendations.
Solutions to the nation’s housing problems
The nation’s housing problem is an acute one. We know
that it is the duty of both the government and private organisations
to provide houses for the masses. We are involved in the Federal
Government policies and programmes. But you know that we play
only advisory roles. We cannot coerce government to do what
we advise them to do. We keep on giving suggestions, We keep
on making sure that when there is going to be a government
housing projects at federal, state or local government level,
we make suggestions. When there is the need to advise on a
particular location, whether it is suitable or not, we give
our advice.
If there is problem of costing, we also make our input. We
also communicate with different organisations that are involved
in housing development to let them know our views, to get
them started on the provision of mass housing because the
problem as I said earlier is acute. I strongly believe that
it is very possible for every Nigerian to own a house. You
can agree with me that it is the responsibility of government.
If you go all over the world, wherever there is minimal housing
problem, you would know that government is behind it. In the
past, the Federal Government has tried by providing mass housing
for the people. If you take a look across the country, most
of the large estates are the handiwork of government.
For example, FESTAC Town, Satellite Town, 1004 Estate, Ikoyi
and Eric Moore high rise buildings, Jakande estates and others
. It is a fact that the estates gave accommodation to millions
of Nigerians. What would have been our fate if government
had decided not to get involved in the provision of mass housing.
That is why I am not comfortable with the reform programme
which allows government to divest from the provision of mass
housing for the people. If they do that, who do they expect
to provide housing? Is it private investors with little resources,
who after managing to construct few blocks of flats would
put them at N50 million each? Government is the only solution
to the housing problem in the country.
They should engage directly in providing mass housing by acquiring
large expands of land at various parts of the country and
develop them into housing estates as they have done in the
past. Government should also strengthen the Federal Mortgage
Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) with capital for use by those who subscribe
to the National Housing Programme. Mostly, we hear that the
organizers of the programme cite lack of funds as the main
reason subscribers are denied benefits from the programme.
What is obtainable at the moment as regards the National Housing
Programme is not encouraging? It is on record that since the
commencement of the scheme, not up to 10 percent of the subscribers
have benefited from it.
Some people are even thinking that the programme does not
exist in reality since they could not point at somebody who
has benefited from it. Even the main reason people are contributing
to the scheme is because the money is taken from source before
salaries are paid. Had it been the other way round, I am sure
that most people would not contribute, owing to the inefficiency
of the programme. So, government should try and empower the
scheme financially, so that it will be able to discharge its
responsibilities.
Another factor that can help to solve the nation’s housing
problem is to open specialized bank for the construction industry.
If such a bank is opened and loaded with capital, people who
want to have houses can go there to take loans at a very low
interest and the operatives of the bank would make sure that
the money is used for what it was borrowed for and not to
run for elective positions, buying exotic cars or marrying
more wives. If all that is done, I feel that the acute housing
problem that we are experiencing now would be a thing of the
past.
The Land Use Act
The Land Use Act is one policy, which I feel, should be extinct
by now. It is one policy that has outlived its usefulness
and as such should be done away with. If the last government
was genuinely interested in reform, it should have started
it first on land. The reason is because land is the number
one in the order of the factors of production. How can you
reform the other factors of production without reforming land?
You are talking about liberalizing the economic and business
practices in the nation in order to bring it in line with
international best practices, while you still have a stranglehold
on land .How can that work?
One of the factors that have kept Nigeria from industrializing
is the Land Use Act. A lot of investors are suspicious of
the act because they see it as a bogus trap. Their fear is
that since the act put the ownership of the land in every
state in the palm of the state chief executive, you must be
in the good books of the party in power in the state before
you can operate unfettered and any day you fall out with them
even on principle, the state may decide to teach you a lesson
on loyalty by taking possession of the land where your business
is located. It is because of this you hear people say that
a good businessman does not fight with government.
Apart from scaring investors away and hindering development,
our grouse with government over the act is that the charges
on land are on the high side. Nigeria is made up of the rich
and the poor and since the charges on land before it is made
available to the people is on the high side, it means preventing
the poor from having housing of their own. We have on several
occasions written to government, asking them to see how they
can reduce the charges because it is unacceptable to us at
the Institute. We are talking about providing shelter for
Nigerians. If this were done, land would be more available
for people to build.
What I would like to be remembered for
I would want to be remembered as the president of the Nigerian
Institute of Building, who ensured that all Nigerians keep
to the provision of the National Building Code. The National
Building Code is the National Building Law and if all Nigerians
keep to the law, I am assuring you that there would be a stop
to the frequent building collapse.
Difference between a builder and a housing contractor
The difference between a builder and a housing contractor
or a developer is that a builder is a professional like an
engineer, accountant or an architect. A builder is a product
of either a university or a polytechnic. The builder after
graduating from the higher institution of learning goes for
further training at the Nigerian Institute of Building through
which he climbs the professional ladder and becomes registered
as a member of the Council of Registered Building of Nigeria
(CORBON). But a building contractor on the other hand is an
entrepreneur. Therefore, a building contractor is not supposed
to be a builder. We know that many builders have doubled as
building contractors but they can only do that if their contracting
firm is registered with the Federal Government through the
Corporate Affairs Commission.
Why are developers whose buildings collapsed are not
been prosecuted?
The fact is that some developers whose projects collapsed
especially in Lagos State, government is looking for them
and I am sure they will be prosecuted if they are caught.
I am aware that Lagos State government has a law that any
building that collapses, the owner as well as the developer
should be arrested and the property confiscated but the Federal
Government does not have such law. However, it is in the National
Building Code that any building construction that is going
on, a professional builder must be in charge but the law has
not been enforced. We are now clamouring for the enforcement
of the law. If it were strictly enforced, the cases of frequent
building collapse would be a thing of the past.
Avoiding kobo wise, naira foolish in construction
People who want to have houses of their own should make sure
that the construction professionals are involved. They should
not think of the professional fees. It is never too high.
It is just like saying that the cost of acquiring education
or knowledge is high. Let me give you a cost analysis. If
a duplex is going to cost N10 million if you make use of professionals
and you decided to exclude the professionals and use quacks
to get the building done at N9 million. You may think that
you have saved N1 million but in the long run you would lose
because if you stay five years in the building and maintain
it with N3 million, you have put in N12 million. But if professionals
were involved in the construction at the onset for five years,
you would maintain it with N1 million and that is a total
of N11 million. Moreover, the outlook of the building will
be better than the one built by quacks. Therefore, in the
long run, you are gaining if you make use of construction
professionals. But in the short run it is like kobo wise naira
fooålish.
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