Surveyors body advocates stringent punishment for quackery

Doosuur Iwambe, Abuja

In its bid to stem the rising incidents of building collapse across the country, the Chairman FCT Chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS), Mr. Otaru Omokhagbo has called for severe punishment against quacks.

Speaking during a retreat organized for the newly inducted senate members of the NIQS in Abuja on Thursday, Omokhagbo said that until quacks, who engage in building construction without requisite knowledge and certification, are not made to face the full wrath of the law, the challenge of building collapse may not end soon.

He tasked stakeholders and agencies of government at all levels to show commitment by going tough on enforcement of relevant laws against quacks to put an end to the killings of Nigerians through building collapse.

“In every profession, there is the threat of quacks, and that is why all professionals in the industry and regulators must come together to stamp out the menace of collapsed buildings.

“When you see people who are not trained as professionals handling building projects, you will always see such incidences.

Here in the FCT, we have a monitoring team that goes around to identify those who are not licensed to practice and once they are identified, we hand them over to relevant authorities.

“This has become necessary to sanitize the industry and protect the image of our noble profession,’’ he said.

While calling on professionals to adhere strictly to the approved requirements in handling a project, without compromising standards, Omokhagbo said that the body will not hesitate to withdraw the certificate of those who may be found wanting.

“In our constitution and bye-laws, we have provisions on how to handle quackery, as well as professional ethics and code of conduct.

Once you are certified, qualified and licensed to practice, if you do anything contrary to the ethics of the profession, your license will be withdrawn,’’ he added.

He further explained that the retreat was to provide the newly inducted senate with the required training, declaring that “we had our investiture last month, and we are here to be trained, especially the new ones among us, on how the senate works.

“The training is necessary because these new people elected into leadership positions to steer the affairs of the Unity chapter must deliver on their mandate effectively.

“As surveyors, our competence is centred on cost, and ensuring that what is in the drawing is interpreted in the bill of quantity, and then the work is awarded. “We are the cost experts from the conception of the project to its completion.”