IMPACT OF CONSTRUCTION SKILLED LABOUR SHORTAGES ON THE COMPETITIVENESS OF BUILDING SECTOR IN NIGERIA

IMPACT OF CONSTRUCTION SKILLED LABOUR SHORTAGES ON THE COMPETITIVENESS OF BUILDING SECTOR IN NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

“By 2020”, Nigeria will become one of the largest economies in the world, able to consolidate its leadership roles in Africa and established itself as a significant player in the global economies and political arena”.  The above expressions were the commendable vision of the legislature in 2011 which if executed will give Nigeria an edge over whatever other African nations and past. In any case, this vision can without much of a stretch be renounced because of the statistic insufficiencies in labor advancement in Nigeria. As per WHO (world Health Organization, 2013) the world will be shy of 12.9 million medicinal services laborers by 2035, today, the figure is said to remains at 7.2 million, if not address now, will have genuine ramifications on the soundness of billions of individuals over all districts of the world. This in implies that the lack of talented specialists is an inadequacy in the construction industry as well as a standard spreading over each part on the planet economy. However, incomprehensibly, the poor exhibitions of undertakings and outrageous deficiency of labor appear to have turned into the control and not the special case in contemporary reality in the development segment in Nigeria. For Nigeria to accomplish its objective vision of 2020, needs and exceptional consideration must be given to the construction industry that to some degree contribute an appallingly low rate to the country's GDP (1.4% as at 2011). The low commitment of the industry was expected to a fizzled government arrangement to completely tame the economy through indigenous support and strengthening influences. Consequently, over-dependent on outside development specialists will keep on contributing massively to the lack of labor improvement in Nigeria, and if not legitimately reduced, it might drive the nation's economy towards an ice shelf loaded with appealing fiasco. Ede (2011, p.154) likewise exhorted that for the administration to accomplish the set vision, the initiative should concentrate on the improvement of five key components of financial development and manageable advancement in particular (i) labor, (ii) capital assets, (iii) innovation, (iv) infrastructural offices and (v) advancements. A few measurements by IOM (International Organization for Migration, 2009) uncovers that Nigeria is a goal nation for "very talented transients" with relocation figure of 2.73 %( general chief), 0.89% (corporate administrators), 0.43% (arithmetic and building science experts) and 0.21% administrative laborers, for example, client benefit assistants. The report proceeds with that the vast majority of the outsiders working in the expert/specialized related work bunch are from Europe with a rate of 47.37% while the vast majority of the migrants working in administrative occupations are from neighboring ECOWAS nations with a rate of 42.84%. Shockingly, the insights relate with the truth in the development business of today where obvious and contemporary research finding lauds the execution of this very in fact talented specialists from our neighboring nations over the less gifted indigenous laborers. As indicated by a region report, Nigeria and India is said to encounter higher development rate from 2009-2020 than china in their development yield yet unexpectedly, Indian and china is by all accounts the significant provider of labor for exceptionally specialized and non-specialized development occupations with Nigeria appallingly falling in dispute and pivoting in a round circle. Subsequently, city, for example, Lagos, Abuja and port Harcourt and so forth have endless requirement for new streets, consistent power supply, ports, air terminal, schools, clinics and lodging and so forth. however, in this respects, for government to arrange, fabricate and keep up such colossal framework without consuming much spending plan on outside specialists will requires substantial quantities of profoundly talented laborers from the development business. For our household laborers to have the capacity to administration or fill such squeezing need or void, the administration needs to execute preparing and formative strategies that will energize aptitudes preparing at each segment of the economy which will spare cost and forestall intense expertise lack in Nigeria.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Nigeria as a developing country with rapid growing population and various housing scheme programmes such as; National Housing Policy of Nigeria, Report of the Vision 2020 National Technical Working Group on Housing, as well as publications from UN-Habitat, Musa et al. (2016) assert that, these programmes require the services of skilled workers on construction sites for an efficient and effective projects productivity. In the Nigerian construction industry, skilled workers such as