Repositioning the construction industry for economic development

The importance of construction industry in any country cannot be over emphasized. This is due to the fact that it is the sole provider of the basic systems and services that are indispensable for the smooth and successful running of a country. It is also the heart of economy of any nation constituting around one […]

The importance of construction industry in any country cannot be over emphasized. This is due to the fact that it is the sole provider of the basic systems and services that are indispensable for the smooth and successful running of a country. It is also the heart of economy of any nation constituting around one – tenth of the Gross Domestic Product, GDP.  The industry occupies a sensitive position due to its prominent role in the overall development of any nation. In Nigeria, the construction industry is responsible for about 16% of the GDP and employs approximately 25% of Nigeria’s workforce. Besides that, it is the largest in Africa.  Nigerian construction industry, NCI, produces approximately 70% of the nation’s fixed capital formations. It is projected that investment in housing alone, accounts for 2% – 8% of GNP, between 10% and 30% of gross capital formation, between 20% and 50% of accumulated wealth and between 10% and 40% of household expenditure.

The level of building construction achievement and activity in any country is a measure of the country’s success: a high level of building activity indicates a healthy vigorous national economy and highly developed building forms indicate a high level of civilized and cultural achievement in a country. In nut shell it is one of the key public environments that decide the value of life and well-being of nation, especially the citizens and the surroundings where they live.  

In view of the fact that construction industry occupies a sensitive position, because of its prominent role in the economy of any nation, governments all over the world, pay special attention to the construction industry and use it as a very important tool for the regulation of economy of a country. According to experts, the Nigerian construction industry’s contribution to GDP in recent times has declined. As a matter fact, some professionals are of the view that, the Nigerian construction industry’s role as a major contributor to the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, calls for improvement. 

This is particularly important at present time, where there is much emphasis on sustainable economic growth that will guarantee improvement in standard of living of Nigerians. For the fact that there is strong connection between a well-developed construction industry and poverty reduction and economic development and security, developing the NCI is, indeed, a reliable and strategic key to economic prosperity. Thus, there is the dire need for a deliberate and well organized effort to improve the NCI. An enhanced construction industry, will offer employment to numerous unemployed youths as well as create a peaceful atmosphere which will, in turn, lead to the promotion of other economic activities; this will, ultimately, lead to the satisfaction of economic, social and security needs of a nation. In order to ensure that government uses the Nigerian Construction Industry, as the regulator of the economy, there are certain key areas that government should pay attention to them. These are follows: 

Establishment of Construction Industry Development Board

A major way in which the government can increase and improve economic activities is decreasing the number of unemployed Nigerians. Government can use the NCI to achieve the desired objective by making a projection of the number of jobs that the NCI can provide for a particular period and providing adequate support to it, especially to the indigenous construction firms, so that it will achieve the desired goal. To that end, government should establish Construction Industry Development Board so that part of the responsibility of such a key government agency is to put in place important measures for the overall development of the NCI. This include, among others human resource capacity development part of such work is macro manpower planning for the NCI. The individual construction firms can be made to develop manpower plans at the operating level within each firm so that manpower predictions would be based on the ones developed by the construction companies in Nigeria .This will, further assist, in even, establishing the approximate estimate of the quality and quantity of various professionals and construction craftsmen needed. Thus providing reliable base for measures that will help the industry to acquire the required human resource, enhance job opportunities as well as assist in education administration and planning. Other responsibilities of such board are the monitoring, evaluation, discipline and development of construction firms.

Education and Training

In view of the fact that development of talent is one of the five important areas which the federal government was advised to pay special attention to it,  as part of its strategies to become one of the top leading 20 economies by the year 2020. It is necessary to remember some important points: Firstly, as a result of the rapid progress recorded in almost all human endeavours, in recent times, construction practice has undergone a lot of transformations. This development has affected the construction process in many ways; for instance, client requirements are becoming less country specific. Clients require the same standards of quality and uniformity from their professional agents that they receive in other parts of the world. Besides, the project team for construction projects may involve partners from widely distributed geographical areas, sometimes in different continents. There is also the formation of multi-national or transnational companies. Thus for construction professionals in Nigeria to face the challenges, they must be dynamic, well informed and the quality of training they receive should be comparable to the ones obtained anywhere in the world.   It is interesting to note that in terms of the quality of training, one may not be far from the truth if it is observed that our training programme – I mean in Nigerian educational institutions – especially universities measure up to international standard. This brings to mind the assertion made by a senior colleague regarding the quality of training that student receive in the Nigerian universities in comparison to the ones in developed nations like UK, USA, Italy etc. he noted that In terms of the quality and quantity of training, the training in Nigeria compares well with the ones obtained in overseas. However, there is still room for improvement in the provision of funds and facilities.

Major way that government can use the NCI, in making positive impact on the economy is making an investment in education particularly stepping of effort towards the overall improvement in the training of construction professionals. It is instructive to mention the effort made by one of the super powers, during the cold war era, when, it realised that her rival was ahead, in terms of technological advancement; the first effort made by that country, was to undertake a holistic curriculum review of science and technical education.  In this regard, special attention must be paid to the issue of practical skills. It is true that Nigerian government has, over the years, given support to Industrial Training fund, ITF, however, there is the need for government to, not only, give support, but make additional effort in ensuring that such an important government agency has achieved the desired goal. In view of the fact that major projects are, mostly handled by the multinational construction companies, government, through its agencies such as ITF and professional bodies should find ways and means of ensuring that students benefit from the wealth of experience of multinational construction companies operating in Nigeria. We should not live under the illusion that there is technology transfer; as such, all effort should be directed towards making sure Nigerian students gain practical experience that will enable them manage  any complex construction project so that over dependence on multinational companies will be reduced to the barest minimum or eliminated. This will have the twin advantage of preserving our hard earned foreign reserve/currency as well as reducing the problem of unemployment.

Another vital requirement needed for the NCI to be a major pillar for economic progress, is that there must be improvement on the qualitative and quantitative deficiencies in workmanship currently faced in the industry. This can be achieved by making sure that the NCI has an adequate supply of appropriately trained artisan and construction craftsmen.

To be continued…

Danwata is an Associate Professor, Department of Building, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, [email protected], 08022601115.