TABLE OF CONTENT 1. Introduction 2. Who is Professor Kunle Ade Wahab 3. Purpose of his research and contributions 4.

Ways he contributed to the built environment 5. Challenges identified in the built environment of Nigeria and their solutions 6. Conclusion 7. References

INTRODUCTION Building is one of mans most precious possessions. Not only does it offer him both physical and psychological protection, it is a symbol of his conquest of the earth a monument to his power and glory. The very word building summarizes the process and substance by which the earth has been transformed from the primordial jungle into what it is today, a living and ever-growing testimony of mans relentless quest to make the earth a more comfortable place to live. This research explains the contribution of Prof. Kunle Ade-Wahab to the built environment, who in his relentless effort tried to create awareness that buildings are not mere structures, but represent a statement of hope for the future. And since it is a response to material and geographical necessities, religious beliefs, social systems and economic conditions, a building is more than just shelter. The built environment is certainly pervasive, but both the term and its reach and implications are evasive, more comprehensive, and far reaching than most of us realize, even though we live in it every day. It may be helpful, then, to start simply and define the built environment by four interrelated characteristics. First, it is extensive; it is everywhere; it provides the context for all human endeavors. More specifically, it is everything humanly created, modified or constructed, humanly made, arranged, or maintained. Second, it is the creation of human minds and the result of human purposes; it is intended to serve human needs, wants, and values. Third, much of it is created to help us deal with and to protect us from the overall environment, and to mediate or change this environment for our comfort and well-being. Last, an obvious but often forgotten characteristic is that every component of the built environment is defined and shaped by context; each and all of the individual elements contribute either positively or negatively to the overall quality of environments both built and natural and to human-environment relationships.

WHO IS PROFESSOR KUNLE ADE WAHAB? An icon most people would say. This unique personality, presently a Professor in the Department of Building, Obafemi Awolowo University was given birth to on the 19th of April 1940 within the environs of Lagos, Nigeria. After completing his basic formal education, the realisation of the building profession was a priority that ensured his surfing the world as a means of achieving this goal. EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND Time and space was no hindrance to this icon. He had his Tertiary Education outside the boundaries of his Nation. The educational institutions attended are as follows; i) ii) iii) iv) Leicester College of Technology (1961-1962) Liverpool College of Building (1962-1965) University of Liverpool (Post Graduate Diploma in Building Science, 1966-1967) University of Birmingham (M.Sc Materials Engineering and Construction Management, 1967-1968) v) University of Reading (Ph.D Construction Management, 1975-1976).

He also attained professional qualifications in the following Associations and Organization; i) ii) iii) iv) v) vi) vii) viii) Past President of the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) Member of the Chartered Institute of Building, U.K (CIOB) Fellow at the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) Member of the Institution of Highway Engineers, U.K (IHE) Member of the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS) Member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) Member of the International Association of Housing Science (IAHS) Hon. Fellow at the Nigerian Institute of Estate Surveyors & Valuers (NIVS)

More so, other distinct qualifications include; i) ii) iii) A registered Engineer with COREN (20.05.77) A registered Builder with CORBON (1990) A registered Quantity Surveyor with QSRBON (1990)

WORK EXPERIENCE Professor Kunle Ade Wahab work experiences stretches from within the university system to the outside world. Outside the university system, he worked as a; - Building Surveyor and site Engineer with HIGGS & HILL Ltd., Widnes U.K (1965-1966) - Civil Engineer on Housing Estates with George Wimpy & Co., Liverpool Region, U.K. (1967) - Senior Building and Civil Engineer on Substructure and Prefabricated Building Assembly with C. Bryant & Co., Birmingham, U.K. (1968) - Senior Civil Engineer on Office Building & Highway Construction M1-M16 Motorway Link with John Laing Construction, Midlands, U.K. (1969) Within the University, he was a; - Lecturer in Materials and Construction, Department of Building of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. (1969-1971). - Lecturer in the Department of Estate Management, Faculty of Environmental Design and Management, Obafemi Awolowo University, Osun, Nigeria. (1971-1979) - Professor in the Faculty of Environmental Design and Management. (1979 till date) However, he secured position as the; Technology, University

- Acting Headship of Estate Management (1971-1972) - Acting Headship of Enlarged Environmental Planning, Design and 1982). - Foundation Dean, Faculty of E.D.M (1982-1985) - Acting Dean, Faculty of E.D.M (1985-1987) - Dean, Faculty of Environmental Design and Management. (1987-1989) - Chairman, Committee of Deans. (1987-1989); and -Acting Director of Works (1979-1980) Management. (1976-

PURPOSE OF HIS RESEARCHES AND CONTRIBUTIONS The purpose of his researches and contributions is focused on the present state of the building industry in Nigeria with a view to highlighting its problems and prospects, and also an attempt to find solutions to the perennial problem of housing shortage in Nigeria.

WAYS HE CONTRIBUTED TO THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT Apart from his involvement in the production of qualified professional builders in Nigeria. He has conducted series of research with a view to helping the nation to solve some of its housing problems. In some of his study, he evaluated the following schemes. The first Six Year Development Plan (1962-68) mentioned housing as part of industrial estates, land acquisition and town planning. However, he further examined the role that would have been played by the private sector by supplementing the governments effort after implementing 500 units instead of the 61, 000 units needed. The Second National Development Plan (1970-75) which indicated only marginal improvements in the governments efforts to provide houses for civil servants and the general public. And the Third Nation Development Plan (1975-80) which justifies the need for the government to embark on large scale public housing schemes particular in the low income groups. The range of income distribution shown in the housing system is probably an indication of what can be expected nationally, with this assumption; funds for housing can be allocated in the proportion of 71.64%, 21.78% and 6.58% for the low, medium and high income groups respectively. Thereafter, he suggested that housing can be provided for all, using any of the following housing principles (Wahab, 1983). If there is only one quality standard (principle one), the owner occupier should be allocated space according to what he can afford. It is however prudent to adopt at least three difference designs, one for each income group (principle two). For the two principles, each household should be able to obtain a minimum of one room (two rooms is ideal) together with the usual services a kitchen, a bathroom or showers and a toilet. The services can be shared among a reasonable number of households. When these two principles are related to the prevailing

minimum housing costs as much as 45.5% of the population could not be provided with accommodation. In order to accommodate them, a concept of percentage completeness (principle three) can be adopted. This requires that houses under each of the three quality standards shall be completed to a reasonable percentage to enable the householder occupy the unit, and allocation of space should be made also according to what the household can afford. It is obvious from the foregoing that both space standard (size of accommodation) and quality standard (specification for materials) are the two major factors affecting house cost. There are others, of course. For the principles of percentage completeness to be of much benefit to the low income group particularly, he argued is that this group would have to participate in either initial construction and/or subsequent completion of their homes, through a housing co-operative system. This system as a strategy fosters initiative, reduces costs and brings accommodation much closer to the needy. The case for prospective owner- occupiers to participate in the development of their own homes has been succinctly put in a previous article as follows: The role of the developing countrys government is to create a framework in which people do things for themselves on a continuing basis according to their own needs and priorities, and in such ways that local resources are mobilized from local needs. The rural sector is one where self help (community and individual) is feasible, effective and essential. Happily the Lagos state government has provided accommodation that fits principle three above: occupies of government houses have been allowed to improve their accommodation since they move in. where self-help schemes are implemented, the staff and students of a faculty such as ours could well have a role to play in providing technical advice.

If these principles are adopted nationally, it would lead to an appreciable improvement in our housing conditions, adding substantially to our housing stock. However, the successful implementation of these principles would require an efficient construction industry which Nigeria lacks at the moment. In different publications, he focused on the productivity of the Nigerian construction industry, particularly as it relates to building materials and manpower requirements to be. For example, Nigeria currently suffers from a scarcity of the main building materials and has to rely on foreign importation. My studies have shown that the productivity of Nigerian workers is much lower than that of their counterpart in the developed countries. For example, the manpower requirement for housing project in the USA, UK and Ireland are 1.53, 2.33 and 3.28 man days per square metre respectively and Nigeria varies from 6.44 to 16.78 man-days (Wahab, 1983). This lower manpower requirement in the developed countries can be attributed to better construction organization, higher degree of supervision and the adoption of mechanical power as well as a fair amount of prefabrication outside the building sites. The large variability in the performance of Nigeria contractors is due to the form of construction, the size of contractors and the value of contract. The other factor responsible for low productivity in the industry is the level of education. In a 1975 study, I found that 19% of the operatives had no education, 36% did not possess while 38% possessed Primary VI School Leaving Certificate; and only 7% had qualification higher than Primary VI. The situation had improved significantly by 1981 as the corresponding figures were 12%, 16%, 42% and 30% respectively. Unfortunately the housing situation in the urban areas is not likely to improve if no positive action is taken to stem migration from rural area, where between 70% and 80% of the population still live. To achieve this it has been recommended that the government should not only establish more industries in the rural areas, but should also provide essential amenities such as adequate housing, rural electrification, adequate water supply hospitals and some of the facilities enjoyed in the cities.

His current research interests include the computerization of house costs which will give opportunity for the potential home owner to complete a Multiple Input Home Ownership Form. In this form, some options for quality of materials and amenities to suit to suit the type of house he wants are matched with his affordable house cost to generate the house plan and specification. I am also working on minimum house costs, project impact assessment and apprenticeship system in the construction industry in Nigeria. Conscious of the acute housing problems facing Nigeria, the University of Ife established a Department of Estate Management in 1970. This department was upgrade to the Faculty status and named faculty of Environmental Design and Management during the 1980/81 session. The main objectives of the Faculty are to produce trained professional in the various fields of environmental design, construction and management. The following department and units make up the Faculty. a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. Department of Architecture Department of Building Technology Department of Quantity Surveying Department of Estate Management Department of Urban and Regional Planning Department project Design Unit Pilot Production and Construction Unit Industrial Training Unit

At present, the Faculty has a teaching staff of 36 and a student population of 622. So far it had produced about 185 graduates in estate management, building technology and quantity surveying. Our first set of fully qualified architects will be produced at the end of the current session. We expect to produce our first fully qualified town planners next session.

In the development of its academic programme, the Faculty has been guided by the principle that only an integrated disciplined in the physical environment can grapple with the problems and rapid development of the building and construction industry. Since the professionals produced here will have to work together for many years ahead, it is only prudent to train them together for a while so that they can appreciate one anothers views and create mutual understanding in solving what are after all human problems. In our teaching, we consider the environment in its totality recognizing social behaviours and human values, in addition to modern technology, as they affect the building industry. Apart from teaching, all members of staff conduct research into various aspects of environmental design and management. Our project Design Unit is expected to conduct theoretical and applied research into housing, planning and other related fields, the Pilot Design Unit, so that they may have more practical and wider applications. The intention here is to help develop local substitutes for imported items. The Industrial Training Unit will coordinate the Facultys internship programmes, in addition to organizing in service training courses for the construction industry. In addition to our undergraduate courses, the faculty has post graduate programmes in the fields of construction management, construction economics, building structures, building maintenance management, architectural design, real estate appraisal, as well as urban and regional planning. It is hoped that when the Faculty is fully developed, it would add a new dimension to the solution of housing problems in Nigeria. As a specialist in the building profession, the goal of his research was to find new ways of producing reasonable forms of housing for as many Nigerians as possible. In an attempt to find a solution to housing problems, he further went to define building as an enclosed space that is intended to be permanent or at least to last for a considerable time and big enough for human habitation. A building must also be properly designed to satisfy functional requirements, the most important of this being structural and dimensional stability, internal

comfort, sound insulation, fire protection, weather exclusion, durability, lightening, ventilation, safety and general privacy.

CHALLENGES IDENTIFIED IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT OF NIGERIA AND THEIR SOLUTIONS In his research on the present state of the building industry, he highlighted situations faced in the country. Wahab (1983) stated that the problems facing the Nigeria building industry cannot be fully understood without some knowledge of its history, geographical and cultural background. The greatest single impact can be traced back to the European colonisation of the country, dating back to the early parts of the 20th century. Colonisation brought about new social and economic forces (urbanisation) which led to the following problems: 1. Unprecedented urban migration As a result of urbanisation, the traditional family unit became disbanded, causing many members of the family to come into big cities in search of jobs which led to congestion in cities, as the cities invited more adventures than it can accommodate; and this resulted in the following: i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. viii. High rent Population congestion. Poor sanitary condition Poor shelter Juvenile delinquencies Environmental pollution Traffic congestion Social vices, etc

2. Shortage of building professionals The construction industry provides the infrastructure which is fundamental to the ongoing development of the country, its activities affects everyones lives in one way or the other. Right at the top of the list of governments development priorities is the provision of infrastructures, designed to bring relief to people through job creation, linkages to markets, assets that promote economic business development in an integrated and coherent fashion. Declining investment and demand volatility has left the industrys skills base depleted as experienced people leave the industry in times of depressed construction while unpredictable and poor career prospects discourage new entrants. Firms, faced with declining markets and tighter margins, have cut back on the education and training of staff. While the government seems totally oblivious of the importance of education in her scale of priorities, institutional mechanisms for supplying training to the industry have come under strain as the educational infrastructure is neglected, overstretched and not conformed with societal needs. 3. Incompetent and corrupt building contractors One unfortunate aspect of the building industry in Nigeria is the existence among indigenous builders of fake professionals, or so-called Alhaja contractors (Wahab, 1983). They are usually unqualified individuals often encouraged by their government officials for the purpose of receiving kick-backs. This has led to inflated estimates, shoddy jobs and consequently, waste of public funds. 4. Short-sighted and extravagant housing policies The efforts of the government to provide adequate accommodation in the urban area have been thwarted by the short-sighted policy of providing expensive housing for individuals

who cannot sustain such a venture. Thus, only a few houses get built out of the meagre resources available. 5. Adoption of inappropriate technology Most of the various resettlement schemes of the government have left much to be desired because of inadequate feasibility studies. A typical example is the Kainji resettlement scheme where the government commissioned the project to be handled by a foreign company. The prefabricated structures which emerged failed to respond to the climate of the area. The houses were too hot for human comfort which led to the farmer sleeping outside and converting the houses to shelter their cattle. 6. High cost of building materials As a result of urbanisation and more sophisticated building and housing project the traditional materials were no longer required. Foreign materials were in short supply but in high demand which caused inflation in the purchase of building materials. 7. Overcrowding The problem of overcrowding in our cities has become a nightmare to planners. An example is in Ajegunle area of Lagos where as many as eight people occupy a single substandard room. A curtain is normally used to demarcate a sleeping portion of the room from the living portion.

SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEMS After highlighting and discussing the problems of the building industry in Nigeria, possible solutions to combat these problems presented and are discussed below: 1. Enactment of special housing laws: to combat the problem of overcrowding in the cities, the government should enact laws specifying the number who can occupy or sleep in a given dimension of residential space. 2. Creation of social amenities and industries in rural areas: to check the drift of rural to urban migration, more industries and essential social amenities such as schools, rural electrification, roads, and hospitals should be provided to service the rural areas. Satellite towns should be created to ease the burdens on the cities. 3. The establishment of professional builders registration council in Nigeria: this would be an association of highly skilled and competent builders. Establishment of such association would help in reducing incompetent and corrupt professional and contractors to a minimum. This would further ensure high standard of practice and moral conduct in the building industry. 4. Government investment in professional training: to combat the shortage of welltrained building professionals, the government should invest more in the training of professionals such as builders, town planners, architects, quantity surveyors, etc, at every level. 5. Participation of indigenous builders in major projects: the need to entrust major projects to indigenous builders cannot be overemphasised because of the implication on our national security and survival. Only knowledgeable and dedicated foreigners should be employed and only in the area of man-powering training and development. 6. Availability of building professional in universities: there is an urgent need to harness the expertise of building professionals in our universities for purposeful consultation at the state and national level. This will help the nation safe considerable

amount of foreign exchange currently expended foreigners and to also turn academics into a lucrative practice. 7. Reviewing of existing building and housing policies: the existing government housing and building policies should be reviewed and streamlined. The government cannot provide adequate housing for all as a result of insufficient fund and also given the numerous other essential facilities which the government has to provide on a large scale. 8. Indirect government involvement in mass housing construction: the federal and the state government should not involve themselves directly with mass housing construction projects. It is better handled by the local authority since it is closest to the people and understands their cultural needs. The federal government should contribute more to the establishment of the local factories producing building materials. CONCLUSION By and large, and as would have been obvious by now, building is one of mans most precious possession. Not only does it offer him physical psychological protection, it is a symbol of his (mans) conquest to earth, a monument to his glory and power. The struggle for a better place to live in with security, comfort, and access to essential amenities on an even keel in hope of meeting future needs without settling for less, since housing is more than shelter and building activities are more than the development of houses. (Wahab,1983)

REFERENCE Wahab, K. A. (1992). Improving Productivity in the Construction Industry through Human Resources Development. Wahab, K. A. (1992). Improving Productivity in the Construction Industry through Human Resources Development. Paper presented at the International Seminar on Construction Site Management Training The Way Forward, organized by the European Community and the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Lagos, November.