Architects’ council begins issuance of number to members, to combat quackery

The Architects Registration Council of Nigeria (ARCON) has hinted of its plan to have an enforcement and compliance unit which is to ensure that only registered architects handle architectural projects in consonance with extant laws.
The president of ARCON, Mr. Dipo Ajayi, while reacting on the collapsed building in Abuja, said the incidence and others in the past showed that developers and various institutions hired unregistered persons posing as architects/consultants, or foreigners, to carry out projects in Nigeria, thereby subjecting the unsuspecting public to great risk that ultimately results in loss of lives and property.
Ajayi said to mitigate incidences like that, the council has set up the ARCON Projects Registration Number (APRN) system which is a mandatory registration number to be issued to all architects practicing in Nigeria, for each of their projects, to certify that they are designed, handled and executed by Nigerian citizens fully registered to practice in Nigeria.
He explained that while the APRN is intended to combat the scourge of building failure and collapse through the elimination of quackery, it is also to ensure that only fully registered and financially current architects/architectural firms prepare, produce and submit designs for planning/implementation approval and receive such approvals when they are given.
“Architects and architectural firms who are registered with the Council are to submit architectural building plans for approval/implementation and are responsible for the supervision of their designs. This measure is to complement the old practice of submitting building with a copy of the architect’s current practice licence, the affixing of ARCON stamps, signed by the architect and sealed (with the architect’s ARCON seal) on each sheet of the drawings submitted for approval, a letter from the client stating that the architect shall be responsible for the supervision of their architectural design during the construction period, the placement of the ARCON Project Registration number (APRN) on each sheet of the drawings submitted for approval,” he added.