By Ladi Patrick
Worried by the incessant rate of building collapse in the country, the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS) is partnering with the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) to avail the force the competencies of members of the institute in ensuring that construction projects are well executed in line with international best practices across the federation.
The President of NIQS, Mohammed Abba Tor, made this known when he led members of the National Executive Council (NEC) on a courtesy visit to the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, in Abuja, however appealed to the leadership of NAF to employ additional quantity surveyors into the service to enable them play crucial roles in costing and cost management of all building and engineering projects being handled by the force.
The Air Marshal Abubakar while responding said NAF would immediately key into the opportunities provided by the institute in the areas of training and evaluation of projects.
Abubakar noted that in the last five years the strength of NAF had almost doubled and that this made it expedient to continually embark on construction of new buildings and other necessary infrastructure to ensure that personnel were properly accommodated.
According to him, among the many officers enlisted into NAF through the Direct Short Service Commission in the past five years, some were quantity surveyors who had been adding value to the force through the application of their professional knowledge and skills”.
He assured the institute of the readiness of NAF to enlist more quantity surveyors, Air Marshal Abubakar, noted that the force would also improve on its participation in workshops and seminars that would be organised by NIQS.