…Reiterates Administration’s Commitment to Sustainable Physical, Economic Devt
The Chairman Northern States Governors Forum and Gombe State Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, has identified legal reforms and synergy amongst stakeholders in the construction industry as panacea to the incessant building collapse in Nigeria.
A statement signed and made available to Jewel Times by the Information Officer, Office of the Secretary to Gombe State Government Joshua Ɗanmalam said the chairman stated this while speaking at the second retreat organized by the Northern Builders Forum with the theme “Youth Unemployment, Its Nexus to Insecurity and Development of the Construction Industry in Northern Nigeria”.
Represented by the Secretary to the Gombe State Government Professor Ibrahim Abubakar Njoɗi, the Governor describe builders as an integral part in the construction industry which must not be treated with kid gloves.
“To avert recurring building collapse, there’s need for legal reform to further align the Nigerian construction industry with international standards. We must not fold our arms watch as poorly designed and haphazardly executed structures keep claiming innocent lives on daily basis.”
He challenged the Nigerian Institute of Builders to institutionalize a legal framework that will enhance professional standards and encourage transparency and accountability in erection of structures that can stand the taste of time.
Governor Inuwa Yahaya remarked that his administration has taken pragmatic steps towards the future, hence the establishment of the Muhammadu Buhari Industrial Park, Daɗinkowa and the International Grains and Cattle Markets aimed at bolstering the socioeconomic development of the State.
The Chairman Northern Builders Forum, Builder Aliyu Ajanu, explained that the retreat is aimed at exposing members of the Nigerian Institute of Builders Northern region with new trends and innovations within the building industry.
He says the “Nigerian Institute of Builders is in dare need of a constitutional reform that can empower it to carry out its role of ensuring quality in building sites”.
Aliyu used the occasion to commend Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya for his pragmatic leadership towards building a sustainable socioeconomic and infrastructural development that has the potential of shaping the future.
The Chairman of the occasion Builder T.B Shuaib explain that, the theme for the retreat was carefully selected to further draw the attention of governments at all level on the need to deploy resources towards creating jobs as a means of minimizing the rising spate of insecurity in the country.
Earlier in an address of welcome the chairman Local Organizing Committee (LOC) who doubles as the Gombe State chapter chairman Builder Abdulraheed Abubakar FNIOB said the retreat could not have come at a time when the Nigerian Institute of Builders Northern Region is been repositioned to better serve the Nigerian public.
Abdulraheed futher appreciate the state government for the support given to the association to host the retreat, and assured of the association’s support to the present administration.
The Northern Builders Retreat drew three participants each from the 19 Northern states of Federation and Abuja.