In Search Of Skilled Artisans 

By Uche Nworah

Those who have funded any type of construction work will readily admit their frustrations with easily available artisans whose sole mandate it may seem is to frustrate the project funders with the low quality of work they do. Such people have had to resort to tearing down some parts of their building projects and re-building same at higher costs.  

Starting from the tailors to carpenters, painters, bricklayers etc, the list is endless and the services seem to be getting poorer by the day. Take for instance the masons working on a friend’s project in the village. Because my friend lives in Lagos, it wasn’t possible for him to directly supervise the project as he would have loved to, and so he appointed someone else to do the supervision. You can imagine my friend’s anger when during a visit, he met half the beams supporting the building slanted to one side. I accompanied him on this occasion and couldn’t understand why anyone would not see the crookedness of the supporting beams. Both the project supervisor and the bricklayers working at the sight failed to see what the fuss was all about, to them, what my friend was complaining about wasn’t any ‘big deal’. They suggested to my friend that the problem could easily be corrected during plastering where sand and cement will be used to ‘chuck’ and align the crooked sections.  

I couldn’t understand why anyone in their right minds will suggest such a stupid solution as remedy to a fundamental flaw in house construction. My friend didn’t need any more prompting and sacked both the supervisor and the masons from his site.

I was in Jos recently for the NIPSS Course 30 graduation. We had arrived Jos on a Friday for the graduation ceremony which was scheduled for the next day. Unfortunately for us, we did not make any prior accommodation arrangements and spent the better part of the day hunting for suitable hotels where we could spend the night.  

Due to the NIPSS event on Saturday, all the hotel rooms in Jos were taken. We were almost toying with the idea of spending the night inside the car when someone directed us to Jikrit Ultimate Suits, a hotel along Bauchi road. When we arrived, we observed that from the exterior, the hotel looked decent, not that we would have cared anymore as we seemed to have run out of options.  

Our first shocker was at the reception area where it seemed as if a tribe of cattle herdsmen were having a meeting to plan their next route. All manner of people were milling around in unkempt clothing, they chatted away in their dialect oblivious of guests arriving waiting to be attended to. I wondered who these people were and what their business was at the hotel at that hour. They didn’t look like regular hotel guests. Finally, the presence of our four-man party caught the attention of the multiple receptionists on duty. They confirmed to us that they still had rooms available and we at least breathed sighs of relief.  

The hotel, a multi- story complex still looked like a fairly new hotel but as we climbed the stairs to our various rooms, there were several tell-tale signs which indicated that bad workmen had been there and left their calling cards. The plastering obviously was anything but smooth, and the paint had started to peel off in some sections of the wall. As we landed on our floor, it was difficult to see as the whole place was in enveloped in darkness. The porter who led us up then volunteered to turn on the light in a tone that made him out to be a superhero.  

I asked aloud why they didn’t think it wise to do so hours ago. I probed further to find out if there were other guests staying on the floor and the potter confirmed that there were, to which my friend then asked what manner of people the guests were that they cared less about light in the hallway.  

As I entered my room, i could see an attempt at interior decoration but still the effort looked like somebody’s nightmare. The tiles were so badly laid that they looked like the work of a toddler imitating Picasso. Having traveled all the way from Abuja, I was tired and needed to rest, but first I had to answer the call of nature and there I witnessed what I may describe as another wonder of the world.  

0How the people that built the hotel expected anyone to actually make use of the convenience provided is baffling. With all the space in the world to play with inside the toilet area, they thought it best to place both the wash basin and the toilet bucket at more than close proximity. You probably have to task your brain to fathom how you could comfortable seat without having your head slamming against the wash basin. I came away with the impression that this probably must be the worst toilet ever in any hotel in the world as the picture here shows.  

0As I looked up, I saw a light bulb dangling out of its casing and I almost screamed blue murder. Unfortunately it was already late and there were no more hotels available anywhere in Jos. I later found out from my friends that their rooms were equally in poor shape. We all wondered why someone will bother at all going into the hospitality business without assuring guests minimum comfort in the least, or should we not blame the owners, and blame the artisans instead?  

Robot  # 1 | 01.12.2008 00:43

In Nigeria today, there seems to be an upsurge in the preference for skilled artisans, craftsmen and masons from Togo, Ghana and other African countries. This is a serious indictment on our people.I recently heard of a Nigerian man who brought home an Indian mason from the UK to work on his project in the village but dare say that we can not continue like this....Read the full article.

Lapalapa  # 2 | 01.12.2008 07:20

Sorry to hear about your ordeal! However, as we all know, you've just been hit by the merciless meteor called Nigeria. Ask many people on this forum and they would tell you their experience; at least your friend was there to correct the misdeeds, or actually see a house being built. Stories abound of people who got mighty castles built in the Nigerian airspace for them over the past several years, at very exorbitant costs to their futures and those of their children. Although we are quick to blame artisans, policemen, politicians and the like, what you just experienced was a tell-tale sign of what is wrong with our society. The Nigerian worker is the most intelligent, hardworking, and consistent of all workers anywhere in the world, except when he is in his own country! Or haven't you ever wondered why your Professor at the University in Nigeria would still come to class with lecture notes he prepared in 1978 instead of spending a few hours to update them for 2008? The strength of any society comes from the life-changing attitude that results from a strong belief in a shared purpose and destiny. That Professor never thought you would one day be his son's teacher. The artisan building your friend's house never thought he might one day have to raise his children in a place that may collapse because of technical faults. The owner of the hotel in Jos never expected that an important dignitary who could like his place so much that he would recommend it to others would sleep in his hotel room. For as long as we, as Nigerians, are content with sacrificing societal interests on the altar of narrow personal interests, we will keep importing from India, Togo, China or even Vietnam. Some have suggested here that we might actually do better to import politicians from the Western world! What to do? Well, that's a story for another day. Suffice it to say at the moment that we are all guilty; the doers, the enablers, the escapees, and the do-nothings. But let's always remember that ours was a culture where you could leave all your earthly possession under the care of your neighbour and go to war without any worries; the fear of God or the gods would never allow your neighbour to think up any evil. That was a long, long time ago. Today, your neighbour would steal your goods in the name of God!

Olamide  # 3 | 01.12.2008 07:24

Skilled artisans are as rare as virgins in brothels as far as Nigeria is concerned. Where you managed to find the few qualified ones, you have to pay through your nose and be at your sharpest to ensure half of the materials are not stolen. Most of the so-called artisans are poorly trained because they never stay long enough with their masters to properly learn the rudiments of their chosen trade and end up damaging buildings, cars, furniture etc if patronized. Most also steal from their patrons because it is their way of getting their back on the 'big people' in the society. Forget about the fact that the artisan will never get the chance to steal from the building of a proper 'Big Oga' because the Oga will deploy 'Kill and go' at his building site and woe betide any artisan found with as little as trowel of cement or sand or sawn off piece of wood or a single nail. I cannot blame anyone for importing artisans from wherever as long as it is within Nigeria but against the idea of giving jobs that could be done by qualified Nigerians to Indians, Chinese or Lebanese artisans. I was a victim of shoddy job by a Tiler I employed to tile my house recently. After spending a fortune to buy tiles and not being able to stay in Nigeria to supervise the job, I returned home in October to meet the most terrible tiling job I ever saw in my life. The tiles were not straight, the edges were not blunted where tiles had to be broken to finish the job and I was ashamed to invite my friends to come and see the house. I raved and ranted and the guy was bold enough to ask for his 'balance' and then calmly informed me that the faults could be fixed if I could buy some 'few' tiles more and just add a little something for him and his boys to eat with while they put everything right. I fired him and paid him off. I am planning now to import another Tiler from Lagos and will possibly have to buy at least half of the tiles again to correct the shoddy work. It is a national problem and the solution is to impose codes on all these artisans like the number of years they have to spend learning before they can be recognized and another internship period of say three years with a recognized master of the trade before they can practice unsupervised.

forshow3  # 4 | 01.12.2008 15:47

Uche, how body, but do you know how much my mechanics charge per hour $85 , while even prof do not make that much.

WaleAkin  # 5 | 01.12.2008 16:09

=forshow3;295775>Uche, how body, but do you know how much my mechanics charge per hour $85 , while even prof do not make that much. Hmnnnn, interesting! What make do you drive and where is the auto Mechanic based? A dealer shop? Roadside? Recovery site? Mechanics do not charge by the hour in Nigeria unless you are doing the annual "engine service" at a dealer shop. Roadside Mechanics will usually collect money from you to go buy the parts (Oil Filter, Contact Sets, Spark Plugs, Lubricating Oil etc) and then charge a professional fee! $85 is an outrageous amount unless you drive a V12 engine:biggrin: and a Customer of either Coscharis or Elizade!

tonsoyo  # 6 | 01.12.2008 17:28

=Lapalapa;295650>Sorry to hear about your ordeal! However, as we all know, you've just been hit by the merciless meteor called Nigeria. Ask many people on this forum and they would tell you their experience; at least your friend was there to correct the misdeeds, or actually see a house being built. Stories abound of people who got mighty castles built in the Nigerian airspace for them over the past several years, at very exorbitant costs to their futures and those of their children. Although we are quick to blame artisans, policemen, politicians and the like, what you just experienced was a tell-tale sign of what is wrong with our society. The Nigerian worker is the most intelligent, hardworking, and consistent of all workers anywhere in the world, except when he is in his own country! Or haven't you ever wondered why your Professor at the University in Nigeria would still come to class with lecture notes he prepared in 1978 instead of spending a few hours to update them for 2008? The strength of any society comes from the life-changing attitude that results from a strong belief in a shared purpose and destiny. That Professor never thought you would one day be his son's teacher. The artisan building your friend's house never thought he might one day have to raise his children in a place that may collapse because of technical faults. The owner of the hotel in Jos never expected that an important dignitary who could like his place so much that he would recommend it to others would sleep in his hotel room. For as long as we, as Nigerians, are content with sacrificing societal interests on the altar of narrow personal interests, we will keep importing from India, Togo, China or even Vietnam. Some have suggested here that we might actually do better to import politicians from the Western world! What to do? Well, that's a story for another day. Suffice it to say at the moment that we are all guilty; the doers, the enablers, the escapees, and the do-nothings. But let's always remember that ours was a culture where you could leave all your earthly possession under the care of your neighbour and go to war without any worries; the fear of God or the gods would never allow your neighbour to think up any evil. That was a long, long time ago. Today, your neighbour would steal your goods in the name of God! How can your handle be Lapalapa (eczema) with a brilliant write-up like this? ha becareful o.:clap: We all seek short-cuts, individual solutions, to collective problems. I am with you.

EezeeBee  # 7 | 02.12.2008 05:46

Uche, your comments were on point and you reflect the sentiments of many end users of artisans nonchalance BUT a question that I always ask is: are you (WE) willing to PAY for quality? The onus is on the artisan to learn and take pride in his/her work; what is the onus on the owner? To twist his/her arm till it breaks? Promise payments and fail to deliver? Cheat artisans outright because of their 'lower' educational status? What contribution do owners have to the problem?

WaleAkin  # 8 | 02.12.2008 06:14

=EezeeBee;295918>Uche, your comments were on point and you reflect the sentiments of many end users of artisans nonchalance BUT a question that I always ask is: are you (WE) willing to PAY for quality? Good point but are there "satisfying"quality products in Nigeria? Take for instance, a balded tyre, the right and expedient thing to do is buy a new one and get it fixed but the owner and the artisan(Vaulcanizer) will jointly agree to "rethread" the tyre and put it to use again without putting into due consideration, the safety of the driver/occupants and the public at large! If you go buy auto spare parts at either Ladipo or Owode Onirin, they ask if you want original or "Taiwan"! What we need do is advocate for a legislation that will compel Artisans to sell original products ONLY! As cheap, common and popular as Phensic is..................We have a fake product! Its as bad as that.

nero africanus  # 9 | 02.12.2008 06:46

=WaleAkin;295923>Good point but are there "satisfying"quality products in Nigeria? Take for instance, a balded tyre, the right and expedient thing to do is buy a new one and get it fixed but the owner and the artisan(Vaulcanizer) will jointly agree to "rethread" the tyre and put it to use again without putting into due consideration, the safety of the driver/occupants and the public at large! waleakin, let us look briefly at this issue of rethreading , i consider it to be a form of recycling and believe that rethreading can be done to meet safety standards. so the fact that rethreading is done is not the problem , rather it is just like every other thing in nigeria , the regulation of the rethreading. modular replacement rather than repair is a capitalist concept that is fuelling both global warming and this consumerist binge that has put the planet in a financial quagmire. products should be used based on needs rather than as a vehicle for someone to make a profit If you go buy auto spare parts at either Ladipo or Owode Onirin, they ask if you want original or "Taiwan"! What we need do is advocate for a legislation that will compel Artisans to sell original products ONLY! As cheap, common and popular as Phensic is..................We have a fake product! Its as bad as that. this is a bit difficult , but in the absence of regulation, what then is an original product ? you see there is no such thing , in such a situation , intuition and deduction becomes the driver for making decisions , this is what i mean. the traders asked if you want original or taiwan, first of all is he referring to country of make or quality of products? in nigeria a lot of people associate bad quality with low price , when this may not necessarily be the case , so when the trader asked if you want original or taiwan. nothing stops him from selling the lower priced one at the higher price once you say you want original which we assume will be more expensive. every product is an original product once it meets the safety and environmental regulations. in the absense of regulation the trader might as well ask "do you want the cheap one or the expensive one ." finally about artisans , there is this common error made in planning in nigeria which assumes that university degree holders drive the economy, no they dont artisans and trades men do. this is one of the reasons why nigeria is stuck , there is no school to train artisans and tradesmen and we are wondering why there are no good ones. they are not grounded in the theory of what they are doing , the rethreaders of tyres probabely does not understand why he has to make the thread depth of the tyre at least 100 mm. so he makes it 50 mm. our sole means of training artisans in nigerian now is by apprenticeship which frankly is a failure, what happens in apprenticeship was that the first batch were professionally trained in the colonial times and early post independence and they went on to train others through apprenticeship , the result is that year by year , the quality of training , gets dumbed down , till no one bothers to teach basic priniciples any more. i remember as an inquisitive school leaver, everytime i go to mechanic to fix the car , i asked questions , most of the time , i drew a blank strare followed by "o ka anyi si eme ya" trans = "that is how it is done" same with carpenters nobody teaches them which joints is best suited for different wooden products , . the end results are defective products , our mechanics are not evolving as fast as cars are evolving, most are not literate enough to operate a computer car brain box scanner. with cars coming more and more micro processor based and controlled, mechanics are hopelessly out of their league, these days mechanics ruins cars more than roads and bad fuel. all we do is complain as if we dont know that we need more trade /vocational training schools, new universities which we dont need are springing up all over the place, yet no vocational colleges which is the engine of industrialisation. our artisans are badly skilled , most of them ill equipped to cope with the technological changes of the last 18 years. it is not uncommon to have the multinationals bring in ordinary foreign technicans ,artisans, a dn tradesmen cos frankly we have none with any skills in tune with the 21st century

Chief Kalu  # 10 | 02.12.2008 07:15

A man graduates from school and jumps into contracting without tutelage, he must make money fast.How can he deliver good jobs. The apprentice spends two months learning bricklaying, before he even understands motar mix, he is already claiming to have built choice homes in asokoro and maitama.This kind must construct beams that are crooked. Maybe because the directors are comfortable while the skilled men hardly feed, everyone must become directors,by hook or crook. It is possible we need to do a rethink on the remmuneration of skilled men. You must also remember those developers afraid of engaging qualified people to do their work. To them everybody who can interprete drawing is a builder. They are afraid of paying fees for supervision. We still have skilled men, but they are few and near extinction. When we start to respect skill, good workmanship and are ready to remmunerate adequately the skilled artisans, we shall be on our way to restoring the dignity in labour and consequently revise this trend.

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