Former Deputy Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Obadiah Mailafia, has called for the adoption of an Industry Standard to address the incidences of building collapse in the country.
Mailafia stated this in Abuja during the 13th Abuja International Housing Show award with the theme ”Driving Sustainable Housing Finance Models in the midst of Global Uncertainty”. The four days housing show started from July 23 to July 26.
He said the country had made lot of progress in the building sector but needed to do more in order to prevent cases of building collapse.
Mailafia said that industry standards are a set of criteria within an industry relating to the standard functioning and carrying out of operations in their respective fields of production. He said it was high time the country commenced the building of a Nigerian ideal home that reflects its culture and identify.
Mailafia urged the Federal Government to fashion out strategies that would ensure that every home have a solar system. “If we have solar in every home, a lot of problems will be solved such as creating job opportunity and also addressing the issue of light,” he said.
Mr Gabriel Aduku, former Minister of state, Health, called on Nigerians to have a change of attitude to make the country move forward and achieve better things. Aduku said that if things are done as expected, the country would be exporting artisans with the attendant effect of creating more job opportunities for Nigerians.
On transportation, he advised that River Niger should be utilised to its full potentials of improving the transportation system within the country.
Mr Festus Adebayo, Coordinator of the show said the government had shown interest in improving the housing sector through various policies and programmes. Adebayo said it was time for action, adding that “we have been talking and doing lots of advocacies so we need action now”.
He advised the next Minister of Housing to use housing to drive the nation’s economy.
Adebayo said the Minister should focus more on formation of policies rather than building houses. “The new Minister needs to work with private sector in providing houses, liaise with state governors in providing access to land for private developers and getting the House of Assembly to pass bills relating to housing,” he said.
Adebayo said that all the resolutions reached at the three days show would be forwarded to the government for consideration and possible implementation.
The nine categories of award were given to companies and individuals that excelled in their areas of business. The categories included CEO of Building Materials Company of the year, town planner of the year, Affordable Housing promoter of the year (both companies and individual) and the Housing Developers of the year.
