This call was made by the Chairman, Ogun State Chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, Mr. Biodun Awolesi, on the sideline of a national workshop organised by the institute in Abeokuta.

According to Awolesi, professionals like architects, engineers, quantity surveyors as well as consultants play key roles in building construction hence, they need to be given a free hand to handle projects without undue interference from the non-professionals.

He said, “Collapse of building has to do with a lot of things; it has to do with the design and company. When we talk about the design, we talk in terms of aesthetics design handled by the architect, in terms of structure handled by the engineer, and cost handled by the quantity surveyor.

“If all these professionals are given adequate role to play and the society does not patronise quacks, and again, the regulatory bodies stand up to their duties, the collapse of building will be brought to a minimal level.”

He added, “Buildings are done with designs. You would have been told what you are supposed to put into your structure and if all the information given to the client is not followed by the builder handling the project, I think the contractor should be liable.

“At the same time, the person that is given the responsibility to interpret the design should be up and doing. So, it is a two-way thing; the consultant should be up and doing in terms of the design, and the contractor should also be seen to be doing the right thing.

“Then lastly, the government should be ready to prosecute whoever is involved in a building that collapses. This, I am sure, will serve as a deterrent to others, and at the same time, stem the tide of collapse of buildings.”

The NIQS chairman, who said the essence of the national workshop was to equip members with the right knowledge so that they could adequately advise the populace on the issue of building construction, added that about 2,000 quantity surveyors in the South-West would benefit from the training, adding that the beneficiaries would go ahead to train others in that regard.

Awolesi said, “We are training our professional members on how to do proper documentation, using some set standards to be followed while preparing their documentation.

“This is a national workshop organised by the NIQS, and the South-West chapter is being handled by Ogun State. About 2,000 members will be trained here and they are expected to transfer the knowledge to other members who are not part of this workshop.”

PUNCH.

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According to the NIQS, the consultancy business of many surveyors had crumbled as a result of the over N600bn debt owed the construction firms.

The Federation of Construction Industry, an umbrella body for construction firms in Nigeria, had put the debt owed its members by the three tiers of government at over N600bn.

Speaking on the sidelines of a two-day national workshop, which had the theme: ‘Relevance of BESMM4 in total cost management of construction/engineering works,’ the President, NIQS, Mrs. Mercy Iyortyer, urged the various governments to clear the debt in order to prevent more businesses from collapsing.

She said, “This huge amount owed contractors across the country is a source of concern, for you can see how a lot of workers have been laid off and this is not good for the economy. It is, therefore, important for a proper budget to be done for construction activities before delving into the business of construction.

“I believe that if you do that, you will not run into issues of owing contractors. This is why we hope that this zero budget approach adopted by the government should be able to take care of the issues of owing contractors.”

Asked if surveyors were also owed by the government, she replied, “Of course they are. The consultants to the contractors are also being owed and a lot of consultants are complaining of loss of patronage. And many of those who rendered services to big contractors have not received their payment as well. So, it is not only the contractors, consultants are also affected.”

On the significance of the workshop, Iyortyer said, “The BESMM4 is a standard method of measurement that we use as guide in the work that we do as quantity surveyors, whether it is in the construction of buildings, civil engineering or whatever form of activity that we undertake in this sector.

“So, the impact of this workshop is to acquaint our members with this new edition of the standard method, because before now, we were using the edition three. But the world is dynamic and we now have new technologies and methods of construction. And in order to catch up with the global dynamism, we have to train our members in the use of this new BESMM4.”

PUNCH.

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