Building
By Lilian Chukwu
Lagos, June 13, 2018 (NAN) Mr Bamidele Mafimidiwo, the Chairman, Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS) Lagos Chapter, on Wednesday enjoined professionals in the building and construction industry to collaborate to reform it.
Mafimidiwo told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that effectiveness of the industry and achievement of its set objectives depended largely on the level of collaboration among players.
According to him, there is corruption in virtually every aspect of the industry in Nigeria, beginning from contract awarding stage to the implementation and maintenance stages.
Mafimidiwo said that the worst side of the corrupt practices was the award of contracts to non-indigenous contractors, which he said, was detrimental to the economy.
“A greater percentage of construction works in the country are being executed by foreign contractors, while in some cases, Nigerians are only involved at the lower level of execution, not even at the management level.
“Nigerians are mere executioners in the construction industry, unlike in other professions like law and medicine where Nigerians play major role,’’ he said.
Mafimidiwo suggested that the Local Content Act being applied in the oil and gas industry should also be extended to the construction industry.
“The act stipulates that certain percentage of contracts in the oil and gas industry should be reserved for Nigerians.
“If this can be done in the construction industry, it will improve the sector,” he said.
Mafimidiwo said that better performance of the Nigerian building construction industry relied largely on the level of government support.
He identified stable government policy, environmental security, review of Land Use Decree and easy access to credit as some of the required factors to revamp the industry. (NAN)
LUC/COF/GOK
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Edited by Oluyinka Fadare/Olagoke Olatoye