Address rising cost of building materials, artisans urge Tinubu

Building artisans, under the aegis of Bricklayers Association of Nigeria, have called President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to urgently address the high cost of building materials in the country as they once again lamented the situation, saying that he should tackle the challenge so as not to send the operators in the sector to unemployment market.

National President of the association, Alhaji Dauda Oyebamiji, made this appeal while speaking to newsmen in Lagos, expressed serious concern about the hard effect of the rising cost of building materials, and how it was taking its toll on the operators.

Oyebamiji said the group adopted this method of reaching out to the Federal Government because it had been resisting the attempt to take to the streets to protest the hardship faced by the increase, as some others had been doing.

This was just as he warned that the current increase across the country was a panacea for a disaster waiting to happen in the nearest future as, according to him, there is tendency for people to be tempted to look for inferior materials.

He further warned that if the Federal Government failed to look into the matter, the sector would be flooded with inferior materials, which would also result in building collapse, aside from people losing their jobs.

Speaking further, Oyebamiji lamented the scarcity of artisans, saying that astronomical cost of materials, coupled with effect of subsidy removal as well as increase in transportation, had sent qualified artisans out of their jobs.

He, however, charged President Tinubu to look into the leadership of the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), the body responsible for conducting quality checks on building materials to buckle up in the discharge of its duties, saying that this would check building collapse following use of substandard building materials.

“We call on the FG to put on their thinking cap to salvage this precarious situation, we need them to show mercy on Nigerians, the hardship is too much, building materials are so high, people don’t want to give us job to do again, and our members are gradually losing their jobs.

“This is our government, we voted for this government, all we can do is to pray and support them, and so there is no need to take to the streets and protest, as some people have been doing, as a matter of fact we are also under pressure to do same, but we believe the best approach is to appeal through this medium,” Oyebamiji said.