Every
graduate of a higher institution in Nigeria has a mandatory one year service to
render to the nation. This is also binding on Nigerians who studied oversees
but who wish to return home and make a practice here. Within this one year, you
are regarded as government property and treated as such. You are deployed to a state
other than that of your origin, and assigned a job at any parastatal where you
are expected to devote the next one-calendar-year of your life. You receive
monthly stipends from the government, and a lot of business-motivational
lectures. The government wants the Youth to be more enterprising than
employable – and this is good. The thing however is that, for an Architecture
graduate, One year is a lot of time! You
cannot afford to be away from Architecture for that long.
The
Nigerian Institute of Architects, NIA is the governing body of Architecture
practise in Nigeria. Working together with the Architects registration council
of Nigeria, ARCON they regulate who can and who may not practise Architecture
in Nigeria. As such there are laid down set of rules. In this, a very important
requirement is a minimum of two years practise experience after obtaining the master’s
degree. This may include your service year, - If you were attached to a
registered Architecture firm with a financially registered Architect as the
principal. After these two years is completed you may apply and sit for the
professional practice examination, PPE. If you excel in this, then you are
conferred the title of “Architect”, and you are entitled to a professional
seal, a practise license (subject to annual financial renewal) and are now
eligible to practise Architecture within the state of Nigeria.
This is why you cannot allow the
service year pass you by.
-So
what do you do? You act smart!
Find
out which Architecture firms in town are hiring youth corpers. From them, find
out which have NIA financially registered Architects as the principal. Get in
touch with them early enough and inform them of your coming service and how you
would like to serve with them. If they agree and possibly employ you before the
service, you are lucky, you may get a package that is a bit higher than the
regular service year stipends. But if they request you to commence only during
your rightful service duration, then that’s still okay.
When
you resume working there, you have just stepped into the next step to becoming
an Architect, after the formal education. Your service year is just like your
internship with higher responsibilities and much more maturity-on your part.
You are also there to learn, but this time you are grown and have learnt a lot
more than you knew then. The biggest challenge at this level is making ends
meet. You typically earn little compared to all your dreams, so you are in a
haste to get rich.
I
was a victim of this misunderstanding. I was indeed carried off by monetary
ambitions that I almost couldn’t keep up with my fundamental duties. It took a
lot of re-evaluation and re-positioning to call me back.
