TECHNICAL AND SKILLED MANPOWER AS PREQUISITE FOR ENHANCED PRODUCTIVIY IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

The present difficulties, in getting competent and seasoned craftsmen, to work on construction sites, calls for great concern. Nigeria, being a developing country with the potentials for a geometric population growth that would culminate to an attendant rise in the quest for shelter. would require the services of adequate and competent skilled workmen to meet these need. Presently, the construction industry is experiencing skill shortage, the experienced hands are ageing and retiring, the apprenticeship scheme is outmoded and unstructured while many youths prefer other quick money making ventures than learning skills. The emphasis on skill instruction in technical colleges has become secondary. An appreciable percentage of the available hands seem to be incompetent and half-baked. This study, therefore aims at analyzing how technical skilled manpower serves as prerequisite for enhanced productivity in the Nigerian construction. The methodology involves survey design, review of related literatures, structured questionnaires. The sample techniques involved purposive sampling techniques. Data were analyzed using mean and rank order; while Chisquare was employed in testing the hypothesis. The findings revealed that there are basically these categories of skills which are: Professionals, eg. Architects, Builders, Crafts and Tradesmen, e.g. Tilers, Machines/Equipment Operators, etc. Among the factors responsible for skill shortage are: low wages, high cost of training, etc. The impacts of such shortages are: increase in cost of construction and delay in time of project delivery/completion.