Naomi Gabriel —
Nigeria’s Minister of State for Works and Housing, Mu’azu Jaji Sambo, while speaking with members of the Construction Skills Training and Empowerment Project (C- STEMP), led by a former Minister of State for Health, Arc. Gabriel Yakubu Aduku, who paid a courtesy visit to his office in Abuja, has emphasized the need for competent artisans in the real estate sector in order to prevent building collapse in the country.
While elaborating on the reason for increase in building collapse in the country, he attributed it to the use of unskilled artisans.
He also praised the efforts of C-STEMP for coming up with an initiative to fill what he described as a huge gap in the built environment and promised to support them.
“It has been a huge gap in our industry, the construction industry like we all know requires skilled workers. I want to assure the delegation today that they should see us as their partner,” Sambo said.
On the request by the delegation for the reconstitution of the Board of the Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON), Sambo promised to meet with the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, expressing confidence that it would be treated with priority attention.
Accordingly, Sambo reiterated the commitment of the Federal Government to completing the affordable housing development scheme in Gwagwalada, Abuja, disclosing that funding would be made accessible to subscribers through the Federal Mortgage of Nigeria.
Describing the construction industry as large employer of labour, Sambo said: “Millions of Nigerians will be able to put food on their tables if we have a vibrant construction industry”.
