ARCON urges Lagos to review laws backing draftsmen

The Architects Registration Council of Nigeria (ARCON) has urged the Lagos State Government to delete the section of the new urban and physical regulation law backing draftsmen to either engage in any kind of design or detail of architectural design in the state.

The Council made its position known in Lagos recently, when it met with the commissioner and staff of the state’s Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development.

While Arc. Dipo Ajayi, president, ARCON, led the Council’s team to the parley, Dr. Idris Salako, the commissioner for the ministry, led the Lagos state government’s side.

ARCON Registrar Murnai Umar in a presentation said the Council had observed that certain regulation in the state’s planning law empowers draftsmen to design, urging the state to remove that provision, as it runs against the federal government’s provision and courts’ pronouncement.

Arc. Dipo Ajayi, president, ARCON on his part, said his Council had put in place ARCON Projects Registration Number (APRN) that will among other things tackle the menace of building collapse and quackery, plaguing the construction industry.

The APRN, the Council said, was to complement the content and spirit of the National Building Codes, which are to ensure that only professionals with the requisite knowledge and expertise of the building process are engaged to carry out building projects and are duly governed by the various Acts in the statute books.