The president of the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, Kene Nzekwe, says weak legislation and poor political will are major drivers of widespread quackery in Nigeria’s construction sector, warning that the trend continues to endanger lives and compromise building standards nationwide.
Nzekwe told Sunday PUNCH that, “The political environment is a huge contributor, the weak legislation is a contributor. If you are not a certified builder, you must be certified. But in Nigeria, everybody, is a builder.”
He added that stronger laws and institutions would prevent unqualified people from taking on specialised construction roles.
“If we have strong regulations, strong institutions, so that once you don’t have the skill, you cannot engage in the delivery of those services, then it will help very well to ensure that these things are eliminated.”
“Government should support the various professional institutions and their regulatory bodies to provide the enabling environment and the political tools, the strong legislation to ensure that once you are taught a good practice of quackery, there should be a deterrent that will never allow another person to attempt it.”
Nzekwe stated that the institute’s push for competence is not targeted at small-scale artisans but aimed at ensuring that only properly trained professionals and technicians handle specialised construction tasks.
“It’s not going to affect small-scale artisans. It’s just that the right thing will be done. Because if you have qualified people, of course they are going to get skilled artisans. And the skilled artisans will be guided very well. But they are not to take what they are not properly trained to give to them.”
He expressed concern over the prevalence of untrained individuals posing as engineers in communities, stressing that such practices contribute significantly to building collapse incidents.
“If you go to most communities, you will hear that, this one is an engineer and he never went to any school. But because he’s been building, somebody will refer to him as an engineer. And these are things that could lead to even building collapse.”
According to him, competence and proper training are fundamental safeguards in construction.
Source: Punch
