Quantity surveyors in Nigeria have called for a national construction cost database to fight endemic corruption and bring the high cost of building in the country down.
It makes Nigeria look unserious and an object of mockery in the eyes of the world– Godson Moneke, QSRBN
Nigeria’s honour in the eyes of the world would be restored with a standardised approach that would apply to all structures, from roads and bridges to public housing, says the Quantity Surveyors Registration Board of Nigeria (QSRBN).
"Our hearts bleed for Nigeria when we watch with amazement as monies which could achieve three units of projects achieve only one, while the rest are shamelessly diverted for fraudulent appropriation," said QSRBN Registrar, Godson Moneke, reports Nigerian newspaper, The Guardian.
Lamenting that construction costs in Nigeria are among the highest on the globe, he said: "It makes Nigeria look unserious and an object of mockery in the eyes of the world. We are concerned because as quantity surveyors not only do we know that the country is being ripped off, we know the magnitude of the harm being done to our common wealth," reported newspaper The Daily Trust.
As well as accounting for all types of structures, the proposed costing templates would allow for variations across geo-political zones, environmental and geological zones.
Moneke made the call at the opening of 2017 national project cost reduction summit in Abuja last week.
It was supported by Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola.
"Within this institutional strengthening, fighting corruption in Nigeria through proper project costings will become more meaningful," Fashola said.
Image: Concrete pumping for housing project in Nigeria (WTF Formwork/Wikimedia Commons)
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You will have a tough job fighting corruption in the country
This is a serious problem in Africa. Like Nigeria, building cost in Sierra Leone is out of control and something needs to be done about it. Private clients are forced to cancel project after project because of escalating material costs, workmanship and endemic corruption within the industry. It is an unacceptable situation.
What is often described to be corruption elsewhere is THE way of life in Nigeria, at every level. A change of mindset throughout the country is needed before this problem is, at least largely, brought to an end.
This will take a generation, but will not even begin until those in power, locally and nationally, have the goodwill to make the change.
Meanwhile, Nigeria is synonimous with the very words ‘corruption’, ‘scams’, ‘bribery’.