Minister of Science and Technology Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu has expressed government’s determination to provide houses for low income earners in Nigeria.
Declaring open a three-day conference on the construction industry in Abuja on Tuesday, Onu said, “The Federal Ministry of Science and Technology (FMST) is determined to support the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI) to embark on necessary research to enable production of houses and roads at reduced cost.”
The conference with theme Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Nigerian Construction Industry — Challenges and the Way Forward” was organised by NBRRI.
The 2018 NBRRI International Conference is the 8th in the series of the annual event.
Earlier, presenting his lead paper with the title Harnessing Building and Road Infrastructure towards Environmentally Sustainable Development in Nigeria, the Director General of NBRRI, Prof Danladi Matawal maintained that Nigeria needs a sustainable built environment.
According to him, SDGs are paramount to Nigeria because of their targets which tackle problems of the city population.
Stakeholders lamented that though NBRRI has done much in research, the impact on Nigerian economy has not been greatly felt.
The president of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Mr Adekunle Mokuolu observed that research in Nigeria is hardly tested and funded appropriately.
“Nigerians love foreign things which is not a sustainable attitude,” he expressed.
The president of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Mr Kashim Abdul Ali said a country that does not invest in infrastructure cannot attain economic growth, stressing that there is direct relationship between construction and economic growth.
he noted that some of the issues already discussed at NBRRI conferences years ago are still prevalent.
He therefore, challenged the organiser to ensure that resolutions reached at the conference are fully implemented.
The Director General of the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), Dr. DanAzumi Mohammed Ibrahim harped on need to fully include local content in Nigerian projects.
The conference ends on Thursday.
