In architectural practice, the name Roti Delano rings a bell. He heads a foremost private firm, FMA Architects Limited, formerly Femi Majekodunmi and Associates as Managing Partner, which projects are an enduring monuments and legacy in the country. He was the former Chairman of the Lagos Chapter, Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA), erstwhile Secretary of NIA and now President, Association of Consulting Architects of Nigeria (ACAN). In this interview with Chinedum Uwaegbulam, Assistant Housing & Environment Editor, he spoke on the issue of ACAN membership, Federal Scale of Fees and influx of foreign architects. Excepts:WHAT role does the Association of Consulting Architects of Nigeria (ACAN) play in the building industryThe Association of Consulting Architects of Nigeria is an association of firms and the firms have representatives in the body. It is similar to Association of Consulting Engineers of Nigeria. Each firm is represented by at least two principals and each firm has equal votes whenever we have having election. Its different from the Nigerian Institute of Architects, which is an association of members. They are firms that have registered with Architects Registration Council of Nigeria (ARCON) and principals must be registered with ARCON. The objectives are to improve the practice of architecture. Some of the key commitments are to uphold the profession, develop and disseminate information to architects, as well as to ensure our clients get minimum standard of deliverables and to protect the interest of clients so that they are not exploited by quacks or non-registered members.Recently, ACAN has pushed for the deregulation of fees in the building industry. Why are you leading this campaignWe are not advocating for a deregulation of scale of fees. What we are proposing is a review of scale of fees. Prior to 1975, architects were earning between 6 per cent and 10 per cent of the final contract sum in accordance with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) rules, which were applicable throughout the commonwealth. At that time there were quite a number of foreign architects practicing in Nigeria. All the various professions in the building industry had their own scale of fees. However, following the civil war era and oil boom, the Federal government had a number of projects nationwide and engaged a number of foreign firms particularly from the eastern bloc on a design and build basis. Some of the projects include FESTAC, Trade Fair Complex and National Theatre.At this time, the few Nigerian architects in private practice were also enjoying the boom and living a fast ostentatious life. Social grumbling commenced particularly by other professional colleagues in the civil service. There were a lot of complaints from sister professionals who believe that the architect did not merit the fee. During this time, the government was the biggest clients in the country. The fight within professionals was thereby affecting the civil service and in order to reverse the drift, the Military government decided to regulate consultancy fees. This was the beginning of the Federal Scale of Fees in 1975.In 1978, the document was reviewed after various meetings with the NIA and suggested that the private sector may use the same agreement as used by the ministry for the time being. In recent years with the new technology and demand of the clients, the 1996 Scale of Fees no longer became commensurate with the services demanded. Private clients and in fact government, were engaging foreign architects and were being paid fees in excess of what the Nigerian architect will charge according to the 1996 scale.One of the tasks, the association set itself is the issue of professional fees and scope of service. A comparative study was made by the body of fees for Ghana, south Africa, Malaysia, UK, Australia and USA, it was interesting to discover that Nigerian architects were amongst the least paid architects. Our scale of fees came into force in 2009. It still maintains the same percentages, but based on sliding scale ranging from N250 million. We believe this is commensurate with the services we are expected to render.Architects have grieved over the incursion of foreign architects. Dont you think these foreigners have created room for competition and standards for the industryWe are not saying that you should not engage foreign architects, but there is no reciprocity, in the sense that Nigerian architects cannot work in Britain or South Africa without meeting all their laws and seating for their exams. If any foreigner wants to come to Nigeria, off course, they can come. But it must be in accordance with the law. They have to meet the provisions of the Architects Registration Council of Nigeria. If they satisfy the requirement, they can practice. Many of them, do not meet all these criteria.Unfortunately, they all get their drawings approved by the town planning authorities because some of our colleagues assist them by affixing the stamp and seals on the drawings. Its something the institute is looking at now because we have the code of ethics, which says that you must be the author or co-author of a design before you can affix your stamp. But there are other implications to it. What if there are issues in the future. The institute is looking at applying the code of ethics to architects who knowingly or unknowingly affix their stamps to foreign architects drawings.We have clients or people who for one reason or the other have been engaging foreign architects for work in Nigeria. For which, there are competent Nigerian architects. They have their reasons for doing so. Some has been saying may be they have not received good professional service from the architects they have engaged. Some think, they are getting better value for what they are paying. The problem in the industry is that if you engage somebody that has not gotten the right experience for your work, you probably will not realise it until when you have gone deep into the project. Then, you will draw a conclusion that Nigerian architects are not good.Apart from the issue of foreign architects, what other challenges are your members facing in the building industryWe have teething problem that any organization would have, which is membership. Really, we are not many in this country. The registered architects are still less than 4,000 for a population of about 150 million. There should be enough work to go round all architects in this country. If we can come together to enlighten the public on what the works of an architect is and what they stand to benefit by engaging a licensed architect, the public will hire our services. We have let architects know that somebody must pay for their ideas, especially in competitions. The association has put guidelines for competition so that once you have limited competition, then youre bound to pay honorarium. If you have local competition that is publicised, there must be prizes and the company dont need to pay honorarium. The association is there, to protect its members and practice to make sure that everybody gets fairly remunerated and clients gets good services.What is your estimation of indigenous architecture in Nigeria in last 50 years of practiceOne of the programmes the Association of Consulting Architects of Nigeria is trying to put together now is to showcase the works of Nigerian architects in the last 50 years. As you know the NIA celebrated 50 years last year. We know that in the last 50 years, Nigerian architects have done a lot, which has not been very well documented. We need to have a compendium from decade to decade from 1960. Quite a number of things you can point to such as the Stallion House, Eko Court, Federal Palace Extension by Modular group led by late Lai Balogun. Others by Nigerian architects are Cocoa House, University College Hospital, Ibadan and Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) in Lagos, Freeman House and Eleganza Building.
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