‘Architecture Contributes N6.17trn Yearly To Nigeria’s GDP’

The outgoing president of the Nigerian Institute of Architects, (NIA), Mobolaji Adeniyi has revealed that the architectural profession contributes about N6.17 trillion to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Production (GDP) which she said is about six per cent of the nation’s GDP.

Adeniyi who said this at the weekend in Abuja, during the 65th Biennial General Assembly Meeting (BGM), Conference, Exhibition and Election of new executive for the Institute, also noted that there was no developing nation that did not depend on its architects for infrastructural development.

While emphasising that the profession creates massive employment especially to artisans in the built environment, the president cited the case of Dubai as a typical example of a society that achieved economic and infrastructural development through the assistance of its architects and architectural excellence.

“Architecture contributes to six per cent of the GDP, which is about N6.17 trillion. There is no developing nation that does not depend on its architects. You know, all over the world, what drives the economy, particularly, Look at Dubai.

“What is driving the economy of Dubai? It is the architecture. It is the tourism industry. And what drives the tourism industry? It is the architecture”, she said.

The renowned architect who was responding to cases of building collapse in the country urged builders, estate developers and government at all levels to always engage professional as well as registered architects to handle their projects.

“But let me say quickly, one of the first things is that we as architects are ensuring that only registered architects are employed and used on our projects. When you have a registered architect being the head of a team on a building project, you can be sure that you will have no compromises that may lead to building collapse”, she added.

The in-coming president of the NIA, Arc. Sani Saulawa, who reiterated that the Institute had never recorded any case of building collapse where its registered member had been directly involved, also noted that the Institute would continue to lay emphasis on the area of professionalism and also create the needed awareness among major stakeholders and other professionals in the built environment to adhere to professionalism and specialisation

Saulawa said there were some unlicensed architects that engage in services outside their professional responsibilities and warned those who dabble into roles that are meant for architects even without being licensed or with the required capacity to desist from such acts.

“They don’t have any background in any of the built environment-related professions, but because they just see it as an avenue to make money through construction, they just dabble into it without knowing the codes, the rules, regulations, that must stop”.

“So, like the president has also said, the preliminary investigations carried out in most of the affected sites where you have building collapse, there are basically no registered… We will say from our own point of view here, there are no registered members of the Nigerian Institute of Architects. And to the best of our knowledge, we have not had any of the sister professional bodies reported that there are members involved”, he emphasized.