We’ll make Nigeria get value for its money – NIQS president

The first female president of the Nigeria Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS), Mrs Mercy Iortyer has said now is time for Nigeria to get value for what the country spends on projects. Speaking at a dinner in Abuja to mark her investiture penultimate Saturday, the NIQS president said she will key into President Muhammadu Buhari’s […]

The first female president of the Nigeria Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS), Mrs Mercy Iortyer has said now is time for Nigeria to get value for what the country spends on projects.
Speaking at a dinner in Abuja to mark her investiture penultimate Saturday, the NIQS president said she will key into President Muhammadu Buhari’s incorruptible administration to weed out corrupt practices and make Nigeria get value for what it pays for construction.  
She stated, “This government is very interested in fighting corruption that has held us back development wise. Now that we have a regime that is ready to fight corruption, we’ll collaborate.
“Once there’s a political will, nothing is impossible. You’ll find construction work done at the correct estimates but it will take political will.
“If government engages quantity surveyors, they will do so. We’re looking forward to this government engaging quantity surveyors to help it develop this economy.”
According to Mrs Iortyer, the next two years will witness sustained attempts to get rid of unregistered quantity surveyors.
“First, we want to build capacity. We have been doing it. We’ll continue to build on it. We have a board which has commenced work, trying to fish out quacks from our profession.
“We alerted all our state chapters. Wherever they see quacks taking possession of projects, they should immediately alert us so we close in on them.
“Our regulatory board has intention of sending names of all registered quantity surveyors and firms to all organizations so people will know when they’re dealing with non-qualified quantity surveyors.
“And where you have cases of collapsed buildings, if investigations are concluded and we discover quacks were used and they’re penalized, I think we can curb this problem,” the president explained.
Also speaking, erstwhile NIQS president Mr Murtala Aliyu said now is time for government to be prudent.
“As the economy goes down, there’s need to be more prudent. That’s why quantity surveyors must be taken to the fore especially in all matters that concern costing of infrastructure projects.
“There was a time it was said that about 15 percent of corruption in government is around construction and construction contributes about 70 percent of the GDP, it’s important that quantity surveyors are taken into confidence and brought to the fore to ensure that there is credibility in all our expenses, there’s credibility in our costing and we get it right.”
Aliyu said NIQS registration board is liaising with NUC to review the curriculum to upscale it to consider new competences that are emerging in the profession.
“We also set up a post qualification academy. Members that are already qualified will sharpen their skills in the other competences in quantity surveying like arbitration, project management, risk management and project planning. First intake is in January,” said Aliyu.