Abuja – December 29, 2023 – Viewpoint Housing News.
Building experts have emphasised that bricklayers must adopt new technology to enhance building quality and provide quality assurance in light of the current circumstances.
Speaking at the Lagos State Bricklayers Association’s (LSBA) 2023 annual general meeting (AGM), which had as its theme “Traditional Masonry Techniques and Advancing Building Technology,” former president of the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB), Kunle Awobodu, noted that homes constructed using modern technologies differ greatly from those built using more traditional methods.
Bricklayers should embrace new building techniques and enhance their skills through capacity development initiatives, stated Kunle Awobodu, who was the forum’s keynote speaker.
He maintained that, bricklaying is a useful craft that society needs on a daily basis and that those who do it well may alter the stereotype, that it is a nasty job.
After graduating from high school, he said that young people should be encouraged to pursue careers in bricklaying since these are more beneficial than committing online fraud.
Dr. Emmanuel Aladeloba, the former head of the construction department at Yaba College of Technology, praised Dangote Cement Plc for their dedication to teaching craftsmen, stating that this initiative will improve the skills of building artisans.
In addition to charging the artists to use the appropriate measures and supplies, he urged them to work on unmonitored places with honesty and transparency.
Aladeloba warned the craftsmen against taking menial wages in order to work on poor quality projects that can collapse later and cause casualties and financial damage. He added, “You can only be called a bricklayer when the house you built lasts for a long time without cracking or collapsing.”
He also advised them to put the knowledge they had gained from the instruction into practice by using the proper measures, angles, and proportions to ensure long-lasting construction and quality control.
Aladeloba described how modern technology have automated site activities to enable easier construction.
He also advised the bricklayers to introduce cadre grading based on experience so that new entrants would not earn the same pay as experienced ones in the daily pay schedule.
Addressing the forum, LSBA President, Taye Dauda, thanked Dangote Cement for training and re-training of its members.
Dauda pledged LSBA’s continued collaboration with relevant agencies to curb building collapse and attendant loss of lives and property in Lagos State.
