Quackery according to Wikipedia is the promotion of fraudulent or ignorant medical practice. In reality the practice of quackery cuts across almost all professions in the world. Today one of the badly hit professions in Nigeria is Architecture.

How to know who a quack is?

Enumerating them in categories from 1 to 5;

1. When professionals such as civil engineers, project managers, urban planners, estate valuers and surveyors, quantity surveyors, interior designers etc. add architectural services to their practice, then that’s quackery.

2. When a fully or partially trained architecture student/graduate with either ND, HND, B.Sc., M.Sc. or Ph.D. degrees in Architecture practice architecture unsupervised and without license or registration with the professions’ statutory regulatory body (ARCON), then that’s quackery. Please go to this link to know more on ARCON.

3. When artisans and individuals who have acquired architectural and construction skills on site such as mason, carpenters, foremen, suppliers, contractors etc. practice architecture, then that’s quackery.

4. When untrained individuals who have acquired knowledge and skill only in the use of architectural design software such as AutoCAD, Revit etc. practice architecture, then that quackery.
5. When individuals who are foreign trained and/or licensed practice architecture in different country where they have no license.

How then do you become an Architect?

Referring to the categories earlier mentioned; Category 1, 2 and 3 will be required to acquire a degree in architecture, then apply to be licensed by ARCON; Category 2 and 5 will be required to vet their architecture degree with ARCON then apply for a License to practice architecture. The process of acquiring an architecture degree is somewhat straightforward but that of registering with ARCON needs to be explained.

ARCON as the statutory body do not work alone, they have empowered the Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA) to carry out some responsibility on thier behalf such as the conduct of the professional practice exams that will qualify you to be licensed; therefore you have to work closely with both bodies. ARCON has two levels of registration; provisional and full registration while NIA has two; associate and full membership registration. Today the former is a perquisite to the later therefore the first thing to do is to contact NIA to begin the process. For those in category 5 you should contact ARCON first if you are foreign licensed.

www.archccess.com