President, Quantity Surveyors Registration Board of Nigeria (QSRBN), Murtala Aliyu (left); Chairman, Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS) Foundation, Segun Ajanlekoko; NIQS President, Olayemi Shonubi and Director General, NIQS Foundation, Dr. Celestina Eke during a courtesy visit to the 26th President of the institute at NIQS Secretariat, Abuja.

The Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS) has blamed the recent building collapses in the country on unethical practices by stakeholders in the built environment.

Speaking at the National Executive Council of the institute retreat themed: ‘Ethics, Corporate Governance and Strategic Planning’ in Abuja, NIQS President, Mr. Olayemi Shonubi, observed that last year’s Ikoyi building collapse was an ethical failure on the part of professionals.

He said: “The collapse of the high-rise building in Lagos was a failure of ethics of all the stakeholders that were involved, including professionals, government and developers.”

Shonubi expressed his willingness to entrench ethics and corporate governance in the administration of the institute.

He called for unity in the built environment so that the sector could tackle the challenges confronting it.

On his part, Chairman, Lagos State chapter, Ayodele Alao, said NIQS is working with Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and other regulatory bodies to ensure building failures are averted as well as ensure that building materials were manufactured to the accepted standards and quality.

Alao also agreed that most of the building failures recorded in the recent past borders on ethics.

“We’ve realised that most of the failures that have been recorded, especially in the recent times, in the built environment borders on ethics.

Alao stated that the retreat was organised “to deliberate on issues of ethics and how we guard our profession and how we carry our daily activities in our profession.”