ARCON charges LASG to delete law backing draftsmen to engage in design, others

ARCON 3

Dr. Idris Salako, Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development and Arc. (Sir) Dipo Ajayi, president, Architects Registration Council of Nigeri

Dr. Idris Salako, Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development and Dipo Ajayi, president, Architects Registration Council of Nigeria during the meeting

The Architects Registration Council of Nigeria (ARCON) has called on the Lagos State Government to delete a section of the new urban and physical regulation law backing draftsmen to either engage in any kind of design or detail of architectural design in the state.

ARCON said it found it to be at variance with the Federal Government’s provision.

The body made its position known during a meeting with the Lagos Commissioner, Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr. Idris Salako and some staff of the ministry.

ARCON president, Dipo Ajayi, while speaking said the Council came to intimate the ministry with its functions and to forge a stronger tie towards lifting architecture to another level in the state.

He said the Council had put in place ARCON Projects Registration Number (APRN) that would among other things, tackle the menace of building collapse and quackery, plaguing the construction industry.

Ajayi stated that if the state adopted this initiative, it would have done itself greater good because the initiative would be additional internally generated revenue to the state.

ARCON Registrar, Umar Murnai, said this measure was to complement the content and spirit of the National Building Codes, which were to ensure that only professionals with the requisite knowledge and expertise of the building process were engaged to carry out building projects and were duly governed by the various Acts in its statute books.

He said APRN was a mandatory registration number issued to all architects practicing in Nigeria for each of their projects, saying this was to certify that these projects were being executed by Nigerian citizens, who were fully registered with the professional body.

According to him,, the project registration number served as a layer of quality assurance regarding the quality of the built environment.

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Murnai stated that with that initiative, only fully registered and financially current architects and firms were eligible to prepare, produce and submit architectural building plans for approvals/ implementation and to receive those approvals when they were given.

He added that the Council had observed that certain regulation in the state’s planning law empowered draftsmen to design, urging the state to remove that provision, as it ran against the federal government’s provision and courts’ pronouncement.

Permanent Secretary, Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dipe Adebayo said the government had noted the Council’s grouse, assuring them, that the offending section might soon be removed through government’s policy.

While Architect Dipo Ajayi, president, ARCON, led the Council’s team to the parley, Dr. Idris Salako, the Commissioner of the ministry, led the Lagos state government’s side.

Other ARCON officials at the meeting were Kayode Anibaba, Ladi Lewis, Tiwalola Faderiyibi and Mr. Andy Ohiomah, Director with the Federal Government agency.

Other government officials present are Engr. Abiola Koseegbe, General Manager, Lagos State Building Control Agency (LABCA); Funmi Osifuye, General Manager, Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority (LASPPA), among others.

 

 

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