The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has called on Quantity Surveyors in the country to urgently tackle the issue of building collapses in Nigeria with the view to finding lasting solution to what he described as “unacceptable occurances”.
The Vice President stated this while giving his goodwill message at the 29th Biennial Conference/Election General Meeting of the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, (NIQS), held on Saturday, at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.
Osinbajo, represented in the event by the Honourable Minister of State, Power, Goddy Jedy-Agba, OFR, noted that as a pillar of investments in the construction industry, it was important for members of the NIQS to find a lasting solution to the issues responsible for building collapses.
He said that the theme of the event; “Climate Change and Global Disasters: Developing Sustainable Infrastructure Amidst Declining Economic Resources”, was timely especially, coming on the heels of the recently concluded 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland.
While insisting that there’s a link between increasing building collapses in Nigeria and Climate Change, he noted that the conference was an opportunity for robust conversation on appraising government’s efforts in addressing environmental challenges confronting the country.
According to him, “as a body responsible for regulation and continuous enhancement of Quantity Surveying ethical standards and technical competence, I urge you as you discuss the weighty issues of Climate Change to beam sharp focus on the unacceptable occurances of frequent building collapses in the country.
As critical stakeholders in the construction industry, the NIQS must join hands with other professional bodies to frontally address this menace with a view to finding lasting solutions and save the nation the agony of damage to lives and properties that is associated with repeated building collapses”.
The VP called on the body to continue to expand its areas of collaboration with relevant sectors to transfer outcomes of its Mandatory Continuing Professional Development into corporate and industrial use.
“I commend your patriotism, hard work and sacrifices in fashioning out industry growth directions for our consideration and possible adoption in tackling the issues of extreme weather conditions such as increased temperature, variable rainfall, threatening drought and desertification especially in the northern part of the country, floods and loss of biodiversity among others.
This conference provides a good opportunity to come up with implementable proposals that will assist government in the effort to deepen Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) aimed at reducing national emissions and adapting to the impacts of Climate Change in accordance with the Paris Agreement and outcome of the just concluded COP26 conference.
I have no doubt that with the 2021-2025 National Development Plan (NDP) just approved by the Federal Executive Council and the recommendations contained in the conclusion of your conference, the nation’s potentials in the construction industry will be harnessed, and Nigeria and Indeed Africa will be better for it”, he said.
He congratulated the new Executive Council of the NIQS led by Surveyor Olayemi Shonubi, assuring of government’s willingness to work with the leadership to review the outcome of the conference with the view to identifying actionable points for policy formulation.
