WABER trip to Nigeria
06 August - 20 August 2011
6 [Saturday] Arrival in Lagos (Hadmof Inn) in Yaba. Went to Whitehouse to eat local dish (fufu with ewedu and stew). Spent the night in Lagos.
7 [Sunday] At home. Went to St Dominics Catholic Church in Yaba. Spent the night in Lagos.
8 [Monday] Went to Unilag to meet with staff. Was received by Funlola. She took us round to introduce us to lecturers in the faculty of environmental sciences. Met with Godwin Idoro. He took me to meet with Prof Oduaye (Dean of Faculty of Environmental Sciences) and Dr Ogunsami (Head of Building). We had a ggo meeting discussing WABER 2012 and potential hosting of WABER 2013 in Lagos. Present at the meeting were Dr Godwin Idoro, Dr Dada, Dr Nubi, Dr Ogusami. We ended meeting around 5pm and Dr Ogunsemi took us out for dinner at Tantalizers. Spent the night in Lagos.
9 [Tuesday] Left Lagos at 8am for Ife. Arrived in Ife around 12noon. We were met on arrival by Joshua Dada. He helped us to check into the guest house. Then he brought us to the faculty of environmental management to meet with staff. Spent the night in Ife.
10 [Wednesday] Left Ife at 8am and headed straight to Akure to visit colleagues in FUTA. Plan was to visit FUTA on Friday. However, Unilag has a programme on Thursday where they have offered me a slot to speak on WABER so means I would have to return to Lagos by Thursday. We arrived in FUTA unexpected but Professor Ogunsemi and his colleagues gave us a very warm welcome and they were happy to receive us. Had a good meeting with Dean and HODs in Prof Ogunsemi's office. Then did a tour of departments. Afterwards had a seminar with lecturers in the Faculty of Engineering. Was a good meeting. Left Akure around 5pm for Lagos. Dr Arum and Dr Babatola took us out for late lunch. We left Akure around 5pm and arrived in Lagos before 10.
11 [Thursday] Urban and regional planning event in Unilag. I did an interview on Unilag radio with Mariam Yanusa coordinator for UN Habit World Urbanisation forum. Then we went into the auditorium for Mariam's guest lecture on urbanisation. It was good. Had lunch with Babajide an then a meeting with Henry Onukwube and then went home. Omoh Yadua came to visit me in the evening and took me out to show me parts of Lagos around the Yaba area. We ended up going to sit at a spot at the events centre in Yaba.
12 [Friday] At Unilag for meetings with lecturers. Met with Prof Igwe, Dr Kayode Adebayo, Dr Immaculata Nwokoro. Came home to rest.
13 [Saturday] Henry came to pick me up in the morning at 10am. We did a tour of Lagos. VI, Ikoyi and Lekki, etc. I was hugely impresed with the city and developed ambitions to own property in Lagos one day. Visited a construction site in Unilag with Henry then went with him to Immaculata's house to have lunch. Nice lunch. Went back home to rest a bit. It was 5pm by now. Henry picked me up later around 8pm and we went for "Point and kill".
14 [Sunday] Travel from Lagos to Benin City. This was an eventful journey. We left Lagos around 9am and arrived in Benin around 8pm. We lost our way a bit and took the Ibadan, Ife, Akure, Ore, Benin route. This made our journey very long because we could have taken the direct route from Lagos, Shagamu, Ore, Benin. Anyhow, it was a good journey. Gave us a chance to see Dr Arum again in Akure. We also travelled through Ondo town which was good. We were met on arrival in Benin by Professor Anny Nat Aniekwu. He received us very warmly and helped us to settle into the Uniben guest house. Light off throughout the night.
15 [Monday] Visiting Faculty of Engineering at University of Benin. Our main person was Prof Nat Aniekwu. We went round offices tp greet lecturers. Then went to listen to a Lecture by Esther Ofolue. Visited HOD Civil engineering. Then went to see campus facilities including sports facilities and then went home.
17 [Tuesday] Left Benin City for Abuja. We left at 7 45am and arrived in Abuja around 4pm via Lokoja. We went straight to see Yar'adua conference center, NUC and Merit Awards House, British Council. Then we went in search of hotel. We got misled and ended up with a terrible experience. We could not find our way around Abuja. Finally we got frustrated and decided to sleep in the car. Faisal came to our rescue. We had left him behind at the Yar'dua conference center because he had gone into the mosque to pray while we were inspecting the place. We asked for directions from people along the way and we finally managed to get to Silverbird. Faisal and his friends came to get us from there. We had dinner and went to lodge at CHIDA hotel around 11pm in the night to lodge.
18 [Wednesday] We left the hotel in Abuja at 8am. Faisal was seven minutes late so we left him behind and asked him to get a commercial vehicle (find his own way) to Minna. We arrived in Minna around 11am and had a most wonderful reception. Met with senior management board of the university, dean and staff of school of environmental technology. Then went into hotel around 3:30pm to lodge. Anita and Ladi came with us and we had lunch together.
19 [Thursday] We left Minna for Zaria at 5:30am. Arrived in Zaria around 10am. Was received by Dr Ahmed Doko and his colleagues in QS department. We went round various departments to say hello to colleagues and then went to admin to see Prof Kabir Bala. Had lunch with Kulomri, Peter and Haruna. Left Zaria around 4pm and arrived in Abuja around 8pm. Checked into Alexis hotel and Nat helped us to have a discount. Went out in the evening with Rita to celebrate the end of our successful 2 week trip.
20 [Friday] Went with Rita to check out venue for 2012 [National Merit AWards]. Took pictures and had discussions with them. Rita dropped me off at the airport around 2:30pm. My original flight was postponed from 1:30am to 3:30pm. Even this was delayed and we ended up leaving abuja around 4:30pm. Got to Lagos and flight to Accra was delayed as well. We eventually departed to Accra at 10:20pm instead of 7:30. I have been very displeased with AIR NIGERIA and i plan to use Arik in future. Finally arrived in Accra around 11pm
About Me
- Samuel Laryea
- Johannesburg, Guateng, South Africa
- I am a Senior Lecturer in the School of Construction Economics and Management at University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. In the past, I have been a Lecturer in the School of Construction Management and Engineering at the University of Reading, UK (2010-12); and also a Post-Doctoral Academic Fellow (2009) and Graduate Teaching Assistant (2008). I completed my PhD at University of Reading in Dec 2008 on the relationship between risk and price in tendering. Prior to transferring to Reading in Jan 2008, I was an MPhil/PhD student at KNUST, Ghana (2004-07). I gained my undergraduate degree in Building Technology from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana in 1998-2002. During school days, my peers elected me to serve in several leadership positions including SRC President at KNUST. From 1994-96, I attended Suhum Sec. Tech. School after basic education at schools in Ghana and Nigeria. I did my National Service with the Fanteakwa District Assembly in 2002-03. After that, I worked at the Development Office of KNUST until I started my PhD in 2004. I am a co-organiser for the WABER Conference and an author of 30+ research publications.
Showing posts with label Nigeria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nigeria. Show all posts
Sunday, 28 August 2011
Friday, 10 June 2011
Foreword for WABER 2011 Conference Proceedings
Welcome to this year’s WABER conference in Accra, Ghana. Thank you for coming and we hope you enjoy the conference. The WABER conference has developed rapidly in the past three years, but our aims remain the same. We strive to: help young built environment researchers in West Africa (WA) to develop their research work and skills through constructive face-to-face interaction with their peers and experienced international academics; supply a platform for interaction among more senior academics and an outlet for disseminating their research work; and to serve as a vehicle for developing the built environment field in Africa.
Three conferences have so far been organized, 2009-2011, bringing together nearly 300 academics, researchers and practitioners from 54 different institutions in WA. Through WABER, many young researchers have been helped to develop their research work and skills through constructive face-to-face interaction with experienced academics. We find this encouraging and we will continue to work together with colleagues in WA to develop initiatives that provide young researchers in WA with opportunities to develop their research potential and aspirations.
This year’s conference proceedings consist of 95 papers. This represents around 50 percent of abstracts and full papers that were initially submitted. We congratulate the authors of papers that made it into the proceedings for a job well done. The published papers cover a wide array of topics including: Building services, Construction design and technology, Construction economics and finance, Construction education, Construction materials and production, Contracts, Cost and financial management, Energy systems, Engineering sciences, Facilities management, Health and safety, Housing, Human resources and skills, Information technology, Materials science, Procurement, Project administration and management, Quantity surveying, Real estate and planning, Risk management, Supply chain management, Sustainable technologies, Urban planning and development, Waste management. As such they reflect various areas of socio-economic development aspirations of countries in West Africa. One thing that is strikingly clear is that the construction sector has an important part to play in helping to realize these aspirations.
We hope that the publication and discussion of these papers at this conference will contribute towards the development of knowledge and technologies for development in West Africa and beyond. Given that the delegates at this year’s conference come from 10 different countries and 45 different academic institutions, there is plenty of scope for cross boundary interaction and learning. The conference also provides for a rich intellectual, international and multicultural blend and platform for networking and developing new knowledge, connections and longer-term collaborations. We hope that the delegates make good use of this opportunity.
We wish to express strong appreciation to two companies in Ghana who have supported us financially. The first is A-Kon Consults Limited who are Chartered Quantity Surveyors with head office based in Accra. The second is K+H Limited who are Constructional Engineers and Contractors with head office based in Takoradi. We are grateful for your support and input and we look forward to a mutually beneficial long-term relationship.
We are blessed to have four distinguished Keynote Speakers: Professor George Ofori (National University of Singapore); Dr Roine Leiringer (Chalmers University, Sweden); Dr Chris Harty (University of Reading, UK); and Professor Will Hughes (University of Reading, UK). Thank you very much for coming. As always, many thanks are due to Dr Sena Agyepong for her excellent and capable management of our local organizing arrangements. Above all, thank you to all of you for coming to this conference. Our conference next year (2012) will take place in Nigeria and we look forward to seeing all of you again. Enjoy Accra and have a safe journey back home.
Dr Samuel Laryea
School of Construction Management and Engineering
University of Reading, July 2011
Three conferences have so far been organized, 2009-2011, bringing together nearly 300 academics, researchers and practitioners from 54 different institutions in WA. Through WABER, many young researchers have been helped to develop their research work and skills through constructive face-to-face interaction with experienced academics. We find this encouraging and we will continue to work together with colleagues in WA to develop initiatives that provide young researchers in WA with opportunities to develop their research potential and aspirations.
This year’s conference proceedings consist of 95 papers. This represents around 50 percent of abstracts and full papers that were initially submitted. We congratulate the authors of papers that made it into the proceedings for a job well done. The published papers cover a wide array of topics including: Building services, Construction design and technology, Construction economics and finance, Construction education, Construction materials and production, Contracts, Cost and financial management, Energy systems, Engineering sciences, Facilities management, Health and safety, Housing, Human resources and skills, Information technology, Materials science, Procurement, Project administration and management, Quantity surveying, Real estate and planning, Risk management, Supply chain management, Sustainable technologies, Urban planning and development, Waste management. As such they reflect various areas of socio-economic development aspirations of countries in West Africa. One thing that is strikingly clear is that the construction sector has an important part to play in helping to realize these aspirations.
We hope that the publication and discussion of these papers at this conference will contribute towards the development of knowledge and technologies for development in West Africa and beyond. Given that the delegates at this year’s conference come from 10 different countries and 45 different academic institutions, there is plenty of scope for cross boundary interaction and learning. The conference also provides for a rich intellectual, international and multicultural blend and platform for networking and developing new knowledge, connections and longer-term collaborations. We hope that the delegates make good use of this opportunity.
We wish to express strong appreciation to two companies in Ghana who have supported us financially. The first is A-Kon Consults Limited who are Chartered Quantity Surveyors with head office based in Accra. The second is K+H Limited who are Constructional Engineers and Contractors with head office based in Takoradi. We are grateful for your support and input and we look forward to a mutually beneficial long-term relationship.
We are blessed to have four distinguished Keynote Speakers: Professor George Ofori (National University of Singapore); Dr Roine Leiringer (Chalmers University, Sweden); Dr Chris Harty (University of Reading, UK); and Professor Will Hughes (University of Reading, UK). Thank you very much for coming. As always, many thanks are due to Dr Sena Agyepong for her excellent and capable management of our local organizing arrangements. Above all, thank you to all of you for coming to this conference. Our conference next year (2012) will take place in Nigeria and we look forward to seeing all of you again. Enjoy Accra and have a safe journey back home.
Dr Samuel Laryea
School of Construction Management and Engineering
University of Reading, July 2011
Thursday, 9 June 2011
BUILT ENVIRONMENT EDUCATION AND RESEARCH IN WEST AFRICA
Samuel Laryea
School of Construction Management and Engineering, University of Reading, P.O. Box 219, Reading, RG6 6AW, UK
REFERENCE
Laryea (2011) Built environment education and research in West Africa In: Laryea, S., Leiringer, R. and Hughes, W. (Eds) Procs West Africa Built Environment Research (WABER) Conference, 19-21 July 2011, Accra, Ghana, 203-214.
ABSTRACT
Built environment programmes in West African universities; and research contributions from West Africa in six leading international journals and proceedings of the WABER conference are explored. At least 20 universities in the region offer degree programmes in Architecture (86% out of 23 universities); Building (57%); Civil Engineering (67%); Estate Management (52%); Quantity Surveying (52%); Surveying and Geoinformatics (55%); Urban and Regional Planning (67%). The lecturer-student ratio on programmes is around 1:25 compared to the 1:10 benchmark for excellence. Academics who teach on the programmes are clearly research active with some having published papers in leading international journals. There is, however, plenty of scope for improvement particularly at the highest international level. Out of more than 5000 papers published in six leading international peer-reviewed journals since each of them was established, only 23 of the papers have come from West Africa. The 23 papers are published by 28 academics based in 13 universities. Although some academics may publish their work in the plethora of journals that have proliferated in recent years, new generation researchers are encouraged to publish in more established journals. The analyses of 187 publications in the WABER conference proceedings revealed 18 research-active universities. Factors like quality of teaching, research and lecturer-student ratio, etc count in the ranking of universities. The findings lay bare some of the areas that should be addressed to improve the landscape of higher education in West Africa.
Keywords: built environment, education, research, university, West Africa.
School of Construction Management and Engineering, University of Reading, P.O. Box 219, Reading, RG6 6AW, UK
REFERENCE
Laryea (2011) Built environment education and research in West Africa In: Laryea, S., Leiringer, R. and Hughes, W. (Eds) Procs West Africa Built Environment Research (WABER) Conference, 19-21 July 2011, Accra, Ghana, 203-214.
ABSTRACT
Built environment programmes in West African universities; and research contributions from West Africa in six leading international journals and proceedings of the WABER conference are explored. At least 20 universities in the region offer degree programmes in Architecture (86% out of 23 universities); Building (57%); Civil Engineering (67%); Estate Management (52%); Quantity Surveying (52%); Surveying and Geoinformatics (55%); Urban and Regional Planning (67%). The lecturer-student ratio on programmes is around 1:25 compared to the 1:10 benchmark for excellence. Academics who teach on the programmes are clearly research active with some having published papers in leading international journals. There is, however, plenty of scope for improvement particularly at the highest international level. Out of more than 5000 papers published in six leading international peer-reviewed journals since each of them was established, only 23 of the papers have come from West Africa. The 23 papers are published by 28 academics based in 13 universities. Although some academics may publish their work in the plethora of journals that have proliferated in recent years, new generation researchers are encouraged to publish in more established journals. The analyses of 187 publications in the WABER conference proceedings revealed 18 research-active universities. Factors like quality of teaching, research and lecturer-student ratio, etc count in the ranking of universities. The findings lay bare some of the areas that should be addressed to improve the landscape of higher education in West Africa.
Keywords: built environment, education, research, university, West Africa.
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