The Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors and its Canadian counterpart have signed a memorandum of understanding to enhance professional collaboration and training exchange in various aspects of the profession.
The institute said the MoU was signed on the sidelines of the 23rd Congress of the Pacific Association of Quantity Surveyors in Malaysia.
The President of the NIQS, Obafemi Onashile, said it would boost the construction industry-wide reforms being pursued by the institute.
“The signing of the reciprocity agreement is part of the current strategic reforms that the NIQS is undergoing as part of its contribution towards the growth of the Nigerian construction industry,” he said.
According to him, with the endorsement by the international QS institutions across the globe, the NIQS is now at par with global standards and its members have become acceptable for employment anywhere in the world.
He stated that apart from corporate members or fellows of the NIQS becoming members of the CIQS and vice versa, there would also be opportunities for close collaboration on issues that bothered on the profession as well as opportunities for training exchange between the two professional bodies.
“This reciprocity agreement/MoU aims at co-prosperity, the prosperity of the two bodies; the NIQS and the CIQS. The two bodies are working to leverage our competences for mutual benefits. This includes the opportunity for training exchange between the two countries,” Onashile said.
He also called on other professions in the construction industry to seek global benchmark as a way of ensuring best practices.
He added that for the professions in the construction industry to make the desired impact in delivering projects, professionals must constantly benchmark what obtained in the country with other climes.
While acknowledging the conscious efforts being made by the respective professional bodies towards continuing professional development of their members, the NIQS president urged all the professional bodies in the industry to subject themselves to global standards test as a sure way of improving the capacities of members of their professions. Punch
