Builder’s show will revolutionise sector, up-skill artisans to world standards — Jaja

iCreate Africa has announced the sixth edition of its builder’s competition, done with the sole aim of revolutionising the construction industry.

Speaking at a press conference recently in Lagos, the convener and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of iCreate Africa, Bright Jaja, said that this year’s edition is tailored to address the widening skill gap in the construction industry.

He said, “The builder’s show is dedicated to the construction workforce and aimed at addressing the challenges facing the construction industry in Africa, particularly in the areas of skills development and capacity building.

“A construction skills competition aimed at rebranding the trade professional, given the profile and recognition of trade professionals in the consumer industry. Our goal is to create a new class of influencers that will inspire young people to embrace careers in trade, thereby curbing youth unemployment in Nigeria,” Jaja said.

“In addition to the competition, the ‘Builders Show’ will also include exhibitions, workshops and awards. We believe that this event will have a significant impact on our society, particularly in terms of job creation, and closing the skills and competency gap in the construction industry.”

According to him, the event will feature the African construction skills competition, modelled after the Olympics and featuring teams from Togo, Nigeria, Benin, and Ghana competing for a cash prize of $10,000, endorsement deals, and all-expense-paid trips to the World Skills competition.

Jaja added that the event will demonstrate the full range of innovation capabilities, and this is where practical solutions are presented to address ecological challenges on a global scale.

In his remarks, the Head of Projects at GIZ, Tobias Wolfgarten, said that while there are many young people without jobs in the country, and there is also a tremendous amount of untapped potential in the area of skills needed in the labour market.

Wolfgarten said, “Our mandate is to support youth in Nigeria to find decent employment because we also want to bring people into jobs where they are properly paid and can build a life. So how do we do that? Our project has two main thematic areas one is Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), where we look at improving the quality of TVET training trainers by doing organisational development with training centres, equipping training centres, and making sure they can run sustainably. We train managers of training centres and also have government authorities run these training centres.

“Then we have a second pillar, which we call employment promotion, and employment promotion is about matching both the supply side of the labour market and the demand side because this is what I always call a labour market paradox,

“We have a tremendous youth unemployment rate of more than 40 per cent plus underemployment, and at the same time, we have companies that are desperately looking for qualified staff, and this is normally on the medium level of qualifications is plumbers, electricians, and hairdressers, These are the kinds of jobs that we need, and this is where we come in with our activities of matching both sides.”

Also speaking, another partner, the country business director of Bosch, Samson Ajayi, stated that the engineering company that makes mechanical parts is collaborating with iCreate to empower users with quality, affordable tools for the competition, train them on how to use the tools, and make them know that you can use one tool to achieve more than one output.

For the Managing Director of Berger Paints, Alaba Fagun, partnering with iCreate Africa will help to build artisans that will use their products. She stated that the company will be giving out paints for the competition.

The highlight of the events, according to Jaja, will be a reality TV show that will expand its reach and help to inspire young people to embrace opportunities in the construction field.

“We are going to be telling stories of the contestants. There will be six episodes and we are pushing that it will get on Netflix,” he said.

The event is set to take place between June 1 and 3 at the International Conference Centre (ICC) in Abuja.

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