By Jude Njoku

With less than one week to the swearing in of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and other newly elected governors, built environment experts have tasked the new administrations to give the construction industry a preeminent position in which of its role as the engine that drives other sectors of the economy.

The experts who spoke to Vanguard Homes & Property in separate interviews, noted that Nigeria needs a well funded and vibrant construction industry to boost its gross domestic product.

President of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers NIESV, Mr Bode Adediji said the President should place the real sector on the front burner of his administration.

“Without the real sector development, there is no economic policy that a 3rd world country like Nigeria can prosecute successfully. We must resist the permanent temptation to be a country where all goods and services are dumped on a daily basis. If that be the case, the starting point would be the housing and property development section.

Don’t forget that majority of those who are unemployed in this country are labourers – artisans, carpenters, electricians, plumbers and the like. If this economy will be turned around within the shortest time frame, the focus of attention of Mr President should be the real sector,” he said.

The NIESV boss also made a strong case for fiscal discipline. Noting that the country is making a lot of money from oil due to the stability in the niger Delta region, Mr Adediji called for prudent management of the funds. In his words, fiscal discipline should be enthroned and maintained. He enjoined the President to appoint tested people to man the ministry of Works as well as that of Housing and Urban development.

In his own reaction, the Registrar on the Quantity Surveyors Registration Board of Nigeria QSRBN, Mr Godson Moneke criticized the influx of foreign technicians and engineers into the country to take up jobs that should be handled by Nigerians. According to him, government should come up with a policy framework that will ensure that young built environment professionals are employed and not the present scenario where most of them play second fiddle to their foreign counterparts .

The QSRBN Registrar called for a well managed construction equipment hiring sector, contending that this will promote indigenous participation in the construction sector. According to him, such a facility will enable indigenous experts who do not possess the huge funds required to buy equipments to lease them for the duration of the contract.