DETERMINED to improve the value for money spent on the construction of public infrastructure, the Quantity Surveyors Registration Board of Nigeria (QSRBN) has advocated the setting up of a Construction Sector Transparency Initiative [CoSTI] to check the problem of corruption in the building and construction industry in the country.

The supply of construction services and equipment has become a major global business, with competition and partnerships between international and local firms and the global dissemination of technology and practices.

The sector also receives high levels of foreign direct investment and of international and regional development aid. This means that the concerns about mismanagement and corruption in the sector have both local and international significance.

It is estimated that upwards of $4 trillion annually is lost through mismanagement, inefficiency, and corruption in public construction globally - on average 10 to 30 percent of a project’s value. These losses have a negative affect on the quality, safety, and value of the built environment.

Specific investigations have found much larger losses in some cases, including projects that were paid for but never built and projects that collapsed with injury and loss of life.

In a statement jointly signed by the president of the Board Mallam Husaini Dikko, and the Registrar Mr. Godson Moneke, noted that even though corruption in the building and construction sector is worldwide, the scale of the practice in Nigeria is not only scandalous and debilitating to the economy and seem to defy control.

They pointed out that Nigeria has laws, rules, regulations and sanctions on transparency and accountability for the building & construction (B&C) sector but the enforcement of the laws and sanctions do not match the extensive, deep-rooted and increasingly sophisticated corrupt practices in the sector.

The statement read in part, “the global watchdog, Transparency International (TI) has consistently rated Nigeria among the most corrupt nations of the world. The human drivers are the most important in the enforcement of transparency and accountability for the building and construction sector.

In the meeting held in Abuja, the board resolved that leadership at all tiers should demonstrate stronger political will and commitment to check and punish infractions against transparency and accountability in sector and wider society.

While calling on government to strengthen institutions and instruments responsible for enforcement of transparency and accountability as well as establish both a National Cost Data Base and a Data Centre for the sector, the board said that systematic and impartial prosecution of violators; and dissuade measures that are dependent on to the predilections of those in charge.

They however noted that quantity surveyor is at the core of instilling transparency, accountability in the building and construction sector as it manages all costs from the preliminaries to the final accounts.

“Institutional structures and capacities appear inadequate to cope with the enormous challenges of large-scale corrupt practices in the B&C sector.
The authorities should foster and promote enabling conditions of public service to enhance professional and ethical standards.”

According to the statement, reforms in the public services have to be vigorously and conclusively pursued; sustaining a psychology of service in political and public life.”

According to the board, “ the public services can really play catalytic roles in enthroning transparency and accountability in the conduct of public affairs. There is the need to implement the approved master for the QSRBN as a body corporate to enable the agency perform its mandate as depository of cost expertise and cost advisor to governments at all levels.

“There is a strong case for mandatory cost audit to enhance the performance the quantity surveyor in instilling transparency and accountability in the sector.  There should be increased synergy amongst relevant regulatory agencies on the enforcement of transparency and accountability in the B&C sector.

“There should be open competitive bidding, including appropriate publicity for public procurements and Public Private Partnership [PPP] options should be progressively entrenched as means of ensuring decent levels of transparency and accountability. ”