Maduka Nweke
The Federal Government has urged real estate professionals to explore services of anti-graft agencies in the country to curtail cases of sharp practices in the industry. The Minister of Power, Works, and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, during the 2018 annual assembly of registered quantity surveyors and induction of newly registered quantity surveyors and practising firms, urged the Quantity Surveyors’ Registration Board of Nigeria (QSRBN) to work closely with the country’s anti-graft agencies to curb infractions in the industry.
Fashola, who expressed concerns over rising incidents of corrupt practices in the sector, advised them to explore the services of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) and Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) in order to curb the menace of corruption in the construction industry.
He said, “I urge your board to work closely with anti-corruption agencies such as ICPC, CCB, Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and EFCC, among others, to tame the menace of corruption in the construction industry.”
He said the Federal Government is waging a fierce war against corruption in all aspects of its national life and will always encourage partnership with bodies such as QSRBN to avail themselves of such services. He stated: “I encourage you to continue to put the fight against corruption in the front burner of your activities until desired milestone of success is met.”
The minister, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mohammad Bukar, said, “ethics is a major challenge to professionalism in Nigeria. Therefore, in regulating your profession, the QSRBN should strive to maintain the highest standard of professional ethics among quantity surveyors.
“The board must not hesitate to blacklist any quantity surveyor found wanting in this regard. Another area deserving urgent attention of your board is the menace posed by activities of quacks. Quacks inflict much damage on the economy. They are not qualified and are unregistered. They do not subscribe to any professional ethics and codes of conduct, hence their unscrupulous activities.
“Construction project costing and estimation is of course in the domain of quantity surveyors. It is, therefore, illegal for any person not so trained and registered by the board to offer such professional services to government either for remuneration or otherwise. Quantity surveyors have a major role in helping government to achieve value-for-money in the procurement of capital goods, works and services,” he said.
In his address, the President, QSRBN, Alhaji Murtala Aliyu, noted that the board is better placed to drive the current administration’s corruption fight to ensure the creation of value-for-money in public procurements, adding that “if as a country, we want to be taken seriously in our procurement of public goods and services, we must involve quantity surveyors in all costing at all levels from inception to commissioning of projects.”