The Architects Registration Council of Nigeria (ARCON) has charged architects in Nigeria to shun divisiveness, embrace peace and avoid acts capable of jeopardising the peace initiative in the profession.
President of ARCON, Arc. (Sir) Dipo Ajayi, stated this against the backdrop of the lingering crisis between the Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA) and Association of Nigerian Chartered Architects (ANCA).
Ajayi stated this in his address at the induction of new architects, registered architectural technologists and architectural firms held in Abuja. At the induction, 614 architects; 54 architectural technologists and 86 architectural firms were registered.
The president noted that despite the strategic importance of architecture to nation building, the profession has grappled with its own challenges resulting in the ministerial directives to ARCON in 2022 to be an arbiter to the two warring associations: Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA) and Association of Nigerian Chartered Architects (ANCA).
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He said, “I must say that one of the outcomes of the peace initiative is the Professional Practice Competence Examinations (PPCE), which is in accordance with the act establishing the council.
“It is on this note that I enjoin all architects in Nigeria to come together and set aside their differences to pursue the common goal of adding to the development agenda of this administration and subsequent ones. This is the main reason why the government set the council up and to ensure that it grants licences and instruments to architects, architectural technologists and architectural firms to practise their trade unfettered. No organisation is empowered to fulfil this mandate.”
ARCON registrar, Arc. Umar Murnai, who spoke on ARCON Project Registration Number (APRN), urged the newly inducted architects, technologists and firms to support the initiative and ensure it succeeds in all states of the federation.