By Kingsley Adegboye

Arising from the just concluded 44th Annual General Meeting and Conference of the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) with the theme “Construction Industry Development: Collaboration, Innovations and Capacity Building” which held in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, professional builders have called for the formation of a consortium of experts in the building industry in order to encourage and improve construction project delivery.

The call was part of a 10-point communique issued at the en d of the five-day event which had over 1,000 delegates comprising professional builders, graduate builders, and representatives of students from schools offering building technology across the country.
The Conference also resolved that construction professionals within the country should endeavour to collaborate with professionals outside the country in order to internationalise construction process and output. Also envisaged is a collaboration in research and development activities among academia in the building profession in Nigeria and abroad.

The document equally noted that avenues should be created by the professional and regulatory bodies for experienced professional women builders in the industry to groom the younger ones, stressing that the employment of more female builders in the ministries, higher institutions and agencies should be encouraged.

The Conference which called for patronage of professional women builders through contract awards as contractors and consultants by the government, said professional bodies and academic institutions should encourage and organize more seminars and workshops to educate members on the necessity and benefits of innovations and innovative practices as well as to foster unity among the professionals in the building industry.  The communique further called on the government to promulgate a law to enforce the National Building Code, while green construction and energy efficiency practices as well as training should be introduced in order to sustain the environment. The participants further resolved that professionals in the building industry should put social, environmental and economic sustainability of every project ahead of financial gains while handling building projects.