Govt To Exploit Construction For Economic Growth, Says Fashola

Minister of Power, Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola

The Federal Government will look at the construction sector to grow its potential, Minister of Power, Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola has said.

The Nation report continues:

The minister said various studies had shown that the construction sector contributed greatly to the growth of the overall economy.

Fashola, who spoke in Abuja during a stakeholders’ workshop organized by the Quantity Surveyors Registration Board of Nigeria (QSRBN) for the validation of the draft revised quantity surveying curricula in tertiary institutions, said the quantity surveying profession played a key role in the building and construction industry.

He described it as one sector with potential which the current “administration intends to exploit in the pursuit of socio-economic development of the country.

“It is a sector that contributes greatly to the growth of the national economy in terms of fixed capital formation, multiplier effect and employment generation. Needless to say, the present economic realities have made the quest for higher rates of value-for-money imperative for not only government but investors in this important sector as well.”

To harness and exploit the gains of the construction sector, the minister, who spoke through the Director of Survey at the ministry, Dickson, Onoja, said the Federal Government would, therefore, be counting on the widely acclaimed expertise of quantity surveyors in cost management of infrastructure and construction processes.

This, he said, would ensure that the government achieves the resource optimization and value maximization needed to put the country back on the right track to sustainable growth and development.

On the need for occasional validation of the quantity surveying curricula, Fashola explained that the curriculum of any profession needs periodic review to take account of contemporary developments.

He said: “The frontiers of knowledge of most professions are changing and expanding fast and it behoves professional regulatory bodies like the QSRBN and other stakeholders to ensure that the quantity surveying profession in Nigeria remains on the cutting edge of developments around the world.”

In his address, the President, QSRBN, Mr. Husaini Dikko, said there were many short-comings in the quantity surveying curriculum as currently operated.

He said: “We need to revise the curriculum of the profession to take cognizance of developments of the past 20 years in line with mandate of the QSRBN. This will not only make for an elegant profession in Nigeria but will make registered quantity surveyors to be more competitive nationally and globally.”