From Magnus Eze, Abuja
The Kwara State Government has provided about 10,000 hectares of land at Amoyo for the Federal Government’s Mass Housing Scheme in the state.
Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, who made the disclosure, said the state government was constructing 1,000 houses under the Maigida Housing Scheme, in the new GRA, Budo-Osho Ilorin.
The governor, while declaring open the 5th National Council on Lands, Housing and Urban Development, with the theme: “Building adequate capacity of professionals, artisans and tradesmen in the building environment” in Ilorin yesterday, noted that adequate supply of qualified personnel, especially in the building subsector, was critical to urban and development planning.
He decried the scarcity of artisans in the building sector, leading to the dominance of the area by people from the neigbouring countries of Togo, Benin Republic and Ghana.
“Indeed, artisans, especially masons, carpenters and electricians, are needed in large numbers by the housing and construction sectors but are largely unavailable or poorly skilled. We are all aware of how artisans from neighboring countries, such as Ghana and Togo have taken over our construction sector while our youths wallow in unemployment,” Ahmed stated.
He tasked stakeholders to find lasting techniques for putting an end to the use of quacks and substandard materials in the building constructions, including mitigating the high rate of building collapse.
Ahmed stated that the state has established the International Vocational and Technical Education Centre, (IVTEC) Ajase Ipo, as part of its commitment to providing youths with functional skills and education to close the gaps in artisanal labour.