The Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS) has called for a reduction in the cost of governance and consumption in the face of dwindling resources to save more for infrastructure investments.
Also, they called on the nation’s leadership to adopt transparent infrastructure procurement processes to promote timely and adequate infrastructure delivery across the country.
The NIQS President, Mr. Olayemi Shonubi, who made the call in Lagos recently, was also routed for the adoption of best global procurement practices in Nigeria.
“The theme of this year’s conference is informed by the growing need by Nigerians for improved infrastructure amidst the current global economic crisis which has made it difficult to access funding for infrastructure development with other pressing needs of the citizenry in focus. It is imperative, therefore, that whatever funding is available is judiciously spent.
“The International Cost Management Standards (ICMS) Coalition was set up in May 2015 after a meeting at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Headquarters in Washington when some International Professional Associations of Construction Cost experts decided to set up the Standards Setting Committee,’’ he said.
He said the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors being one of them, had since remained a Trustee of the body.
“This body mooted the idea of developing the first global standards for the classification, presentation, and bench-marking of construction cost across the globe,” Shonubi said.
Shonubi explained different layers of progress achieved through the collaboration of NIQS with local and foreign institutions and experts since June 2015 to evolve three editions of cost management standards.
He said adopting the World Bank and other global procurement standards in Nigeria would enhance transparency in resources management and also ensure value for money spent on the projects.
He said it would also enhance investment in the infrastructure by private sector participants, and multilateral development institutions and ease journalists’ reportage of infrastructure project cost.
