10 January 2014
A Nigerian minister has challenged the regulatory body responsible for quantity surveying to "check the rot" in construction and devise a blueprint for reducing costs in the industry.
Architect and minister overseeing the Federal Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Musa Mohammed Sada, voiced his concern on the high cost of building and construction projects in Nigeria and urged the Quantity Surveyors Registration Board of Nigeria (QSRBN) to take urgent steps to reduce costs so that it compares favourably with other parts of the world, reports Nigeria’s Vanguard newspaper.
Speaking at the inauguration of the reconstituted 15-member QSRBN board, Mr Sada said: "Available statistics show that costs of infrastructure procurement are too high in Nigeria compared with what are obtainable in the rest of Africa and the world. You must find a lasting solution to this anomaly and the time to act is now.
"In doing this, you need to check the rot and unethical professional practices in the sector as well as the need to cleanse the system by identifying and removing those found to be bringing dishonour to it," he added.
Responding to the minister’s challenge, QSRBN president, Mallam Hussaini Adamu Dikko, said: "We want to be the very example of a global best practice organisation. We shall continue to make professional ethics, competence, integrity and pursuit of value-for-money, probity and accountability the central focus of our regulatory role within the Nigerian economy."
