Artisans and industry experts in Nigeria have called for increased government investment in technological training and the provision of modern tools, warning that the country risks falling short of international production and export standards without urgent reforms.
The call was made at the Abuja Artisans and Technicians Conference held Thursday under the theme, “Bridging the Artisan Gap: Professionalising and Standardising the Informal Sector for Economic Growth”.
Participants at the conference emphasised the need to integrate modern technology into vocational practices, arguing that improved tools and technical capacity would enhance productivity and drive economic growth.
Speaking at the event, Dr. Metuah Emmanuel, director of planning, strategy, and coordination at the Equipment Leasing Registration Authority, said the adoption of modern equipment was critical for artisans seeking to remain competitive.
Many artisans in Nigeria today are still using many ways to do their work. A job that will cost them, like, maybe 20 minutes to do, they’ll be doing it for two hours. If you go to a typical local workshop where we have more of our artisans, you see them hammering things and dragging things and all that.
But if you reconcile that with the workshops that we have in other climes, you discover that in five minutes, the whole vehicle is loose. The only thing that is different is the equipment. And that equipment can be obtained by these artisans without them having to pay up front.
Dr Wumi Hassan, chief executive officer of Hitech Centre for Women and Youth, urged the government to prioritise sustainable funding and local solutions.
“There are a lot of opportunities and skills that these artisans…and one of the ways that the government can help assist them is to make our projects that will solve local problems and then bring artisans to explore and make it happen. The funding the government is giving to international organizations can be utilized locally by the experts that we have. Giving them sustainable funding.” Buy equipment that they can pay for in installments. They may not be able to afford the technologies from big tech due to the dollar rate. But if you group them through their organisation or cooperation, you can invest in them.”
On the issue of coordination, the FCT artisans coordinator, Bamidele Ojo, said Nigeria has a large artisan workforce but continues to face challenges, including inadequate certification systems and weak collaboration with government institutions.
“We have almost 120 million in our database. See, there’s a lot of gap between the government and the artisans. That is why we are coming up to this programme, so that we can be able to leverage the relationship between the government and the private sector to help the artisans to fill that gap.
We want artisans to have more than each equipment that will be able to help them in their own way. One of the challenges we are facing is the professionalisation of artisan and standardisation.
“And we need a proper certification of an artisan in Nigeria. no certification can qualify anybody in Nigeria today as an artisan. And that is what we are fighting for.
“There should be government certification. If they mention somebody’s name, they should know where it’s coming from.”
Also speaking, Abdul Balarabe, chief executive officer of Century, highlighted ongoing efforts to support artisans through financing, training, and capacity-building initiatives aimed at improving professionalism and service delivery.
“ I’ve created a platform for the artisans to be able to be exposed technologically. We have created a marketplace for them to be able to have access to the international global standard practise. For instance, the marketplace is a place where they can be able to showcase their work and get market all over Nigeria, not only in Nigeria.
We are partnering with an agency in the National Vocational Qualification. It’s equivalent to our own three tests here in Nigeria that we can use to actually work both here and abroad as well. So it’s a, what do you call it, a platform that gives access to financing, capacity building, and also business.”
Participants at the conference also called for greater government recognition and structured support, saying such measures would enable artisans to grow their businesses and compete more effectively in both domestic and international markets.