By CALEB AYANSINA & FATIMAH KAREEM

WORRIED by the dominance of foreign artisans in the nation’s construction industry, the   Federal Government last week, vowed to embark on aggressive capacity building for its citizens with a view to reversing the ugly trend. This is coming at a time that the government has put in place measures to make land titling less cumbersome.

The government plans to flag off a train-the-trainers programme for about 1000 artisans and craftsmen in partnership with the National Home Builders Association/Home Builders Institute of the United States of America, USA. The training will address the dearth of skills and competencies of artisans and craftsmen in Nigeria.

The Minister Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Mrs Akon Eyakenyi, who made the promise during a Stakeholders’ Implementation Summit on Enabling Broader Access to Housing Finance for All Nigerians, in Abuja said “government is committed to improving the quality of manpower in the housing and urban development sector.

Enabling policies

”We shall continue to work collaboratively with all stakeholders to provide the enabling policies, strategies and plans for the realisation of the objectives of government of reducing the national housing deficit and promoting sustainable urbanisation. We shall not relent in our efforts to improve housing standards.

We shall soon be flagging off a train-the –trainers’ programme for about 100 artisans and craftsmen, in partnership with the National Home Builders Association/Home Builders Institute of the United States of America as part   of our on-going initiatives on rapid capacity building. This is with a view to reversing the present trend whereby foreigners constitute the critical mass of skilled artisans and craftsmen in the country,”she said.

The Minister maintained that it would be impossible to address housing problem if issues relating to land administration and management are not dealt with.
She said “We cannot achieve our aim of broadening access of housing finance if land titling property registration and transfers, and several other issue on land administration and management are not effectively addressed.”

Eyakenyi expressed optimism that “with the effective takes-off of the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company later in the year; our goal to broaden access to housing finance and significantly improve the rate of home ownership in Nigeria will be realized.”

She urged governors of the 14 pilot states to strive to enhance the operations of the company in their respective states, by fulfilling their obligations to it within the framework of shared responsibilities, as earlier proposed.

Also speaking, the Chairman, Presidential Technical Committee on Land Reform, PTCLR, Prof. Peter Adeniyi said land tenure security is fundamental to housing finance,. He expressing displeasure that only “three percent of land in Nigeria is registered with title.”

The don said PTCLR in collaboration with other agencies had introduced a Systematic Land Titling and Registration, SLTR to overcome the problem.
SLTR is a system that allows each parcel of land held by an individual to be demarcated and adjusted in the presence of neighbours.

The programme, he said, contains basically 14 steps had been tested in five local governments in Kano and Ondo states, adding that “in less than six months in the field, about 10,000 parcels have been demarcated.”

Adeniyi explained that the system would ensure drastic reduction in land conflicts, while making security of title becomes a reality.
”It provides a platform for government to effectively manage its land resources since government would know who owns what, and where.”