Institute Urges Ethical Conduct Among Surveyors

The Vice Chairman, Nigeria’s Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESVs), Rivers State, Mr Hamilton Odom, has called for ethical practices among players in the construction industry.
Odom, who came up with this in a chat with The Tide correspondent, in Port Harcourt, Monday, noted the alarming rate at which professionals allowed themselves to be used in corrupt practices.
The NIESV’s boss expressed worry over a situation where a professional would insist on being the sole participant in a construction procurement and execution only because he was the designer of the project: “If he hadn’t padded the project budget why not allow some other persons partake in it?”.
Odom noted that costs of projects in Nigeria when placed side by side with other countries’, were found to be among the highest and “why should we Nigerians pay more for constructions?”.
He stated that the trend portrays Nigeria in bad light and gives the impression of unseriousness to foreign investors.
He pointed out that according to international best practice, the functions of design and supervision are separated from payment, and costing, adding that these functions are executed by different professionals.
He called for re-appraisal of the system to ensure the furtherance of Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria policy by the Federal Government.