National Association of Building Students NAOBS, National Council meeting 2017

National Association of Building Students NAOBS, National Council Meeting 2017

NATIONAL COUNCIL EXECUTIVES OF NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BUILDING, NIGERIA (NAOBS),

 National Association of Building Students NAOB which is the umbrella body of students offering Building as a course in higher institutions of learning in Nigeria had their council meeting on 27th Oct, 2017 @ Confluence Beach Hotel Lokoja Kogi state hosted by NAOBS kogi state polytechnic chapter.

In attendance were Bldr Musa Yakubu, MNIOB and Bldr S.A Madamori, MNIOB the chairman kogi state NIOB Chapter also HOD Building Dept KSP.  In the council meeting a lot of issues were deliberated upon towards the progress of NAOBS and the need for Building students to be carried along across the Country.

Also NAOBS National President Comr. Shaibu Anthony J. PNAOBS, Delivered the inaugural speech

The National President’s inaugural speech reads below

“Protocols

Comr. Shaibu Anthony J. PNAOBS
NAOBS National President

My fellow comrades:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our great association NAOBS. I thank HOD Kogi State Polytechnic/NIOB Chairman Kogi State Chapter Bldr S.A Madamori for his service to this noble Association, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown in leaque with the Former Kogi state Polytechnic Chapter immediate past NAOBS president Alfa Johnson and the current KSP Chapter President Abdullahi Salisu throughout this council meeting.

I congratulate the NIOB President Bldr Kenneth Nduka FNIOB, and the New Executive Officers of NIOB, may their purpose in their office be fulfilled and I wish them a successful tenure.

The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of progress of NAOBS. Yet, every so often the progress is maintained amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, NAOBS has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those that have been serving, but because we the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it shall be with this generation of naobsites.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. NAOBS is at war, against a far-reaching network of less-commitment and lack of sacrifices. Our force is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the association for a new age. Chapters have been lost; standards watered down; resources shuttered. Our students are no longer interested in practicals; our schools failled too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

NAOBS NATIONAL EXECUTIVE 

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across NAOBS - a nagging fear that NAOBS’ decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real and enormous. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, NAOBS - they will be met and strengthened in this present administration by the Grace of God and your dogged determination.

Today, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

Today, we come to proclaim an end to the petty frustrations and lack of commitment to our responsibilities as leaders, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our social vices as leaders.

We remain a young association, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our NAOBS, we understand that greatness is never a given;It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but most dogged NAOBS leaders at Chapters level obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

Time and again these guys struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might have a better NAOBS. They saw NAOBS as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions, greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain one of the most prosperous, one of the most powerful students’ association in the Nation. Our minds are no less inventive, our services as great prospective professional builders even professionals no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remain undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking NAOBS.

For everywhere, every NAOBS institution we look, there are great works to be done. The state of building trade/skills acquisition calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to acquire new skills, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will make NAOBS a force. We will restore science and technology of building to its rightful place. And we will transform our building students in colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All these we can do. And all these we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what NAOBS has already done; what we as leaders can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

Photograph of the President and his Vice president 1
with Bldr Musa Yakubu, MNIOB

Let me briefly take you to the introduction of this great association(NAOBS) ; The National Association of Building Students (NAOBS) is the umbrella body of students offering building as a course of study in tertiary institutions in Nigeria and which has been contributing immensely towards the production of qualitative builders with the mandate amongst others to coordinate, harmonize and create a synergy between students, professionals in the building construction industry and construction companies in Nigeria for the promotion of the building profession.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the purpose of leadership and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the well being of every Naobsite. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other students  and professionals who are looking up to us, from every angle in Nigeria: know that NAOBS is a force and a friend of each association and every students even outside Building Profession, who seeks a future of peace and dignity of prospective builders, and we are ready to serve and  lead once more.

Recall that earlier NAOBS faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with the sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our influence emanates from the justness of our cause and courage, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint in line with our service to NAOBS.

On leadership, we are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort - even greater cooperation and understanding between us as leaders. We will begin to responsibly pick up our tasks as leaders and forge a hard-earned progress in NAOBS. For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are shaped by internal knowledge of nature as leaders; and because we have tasted leadership, our assumed common interest towards this great association shall reveal itself; and that NAOBS must play its role in ushering in a new era of professional development amongst students.

To the Mutual Students’ Leaders, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their other weaknesses - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout the history. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every Naobsite, that we have duties to ourselves, our association, and the profession, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task in reviving our NAOBS.

This is the price and the promise of leadership.

This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled as young leaders of our generations.

Thank you. God bless you and God bless the NIOB and NAOBS.

SHAIBU ANTHONY J. PNAOBS.

NAOBS NATIONAL PRESIDENT.”