By Chris Ochayi

The Kaduna StateGovernor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai has warned the Quantity Surveyors Registration Board of Nigeria, QSRBN not to appoint retired judges and lawyers into its Arbitration panel. el-Rufai who gave the warning at the just concluded 5th Building and Construction Economic Roundtable in Abuja, noted that this is he only way to avoid prolonging proceedings unnecessarily.

He stated that judges and lawyers have a penchant to delay and prolong court proceedings, noting that they may carry over this habit, if appointed into the QSRBN arbitration panel. The former Minister of Federal Capital Development Authority, FCDA, who observed that the nation’s judicial system is broken, regretted that it takes at least seven years to resolve legal cases.

He advised QSRBN to move from dispute resolution to dispute avoidance by providing quality leadership to the profession. El-Rufai who is also a quantity surveyor, boasted that  “there is no profession that is more qualified for public service than quantity surveyors because they know a little of everything”.

“The judicial system is broken and it takes at least seven years to get judgment in any case. We must not appoint retired judges and lawyers as arbitrators because they would delay the proceedings as if they were still in court. I remember a case that was taken to court and the matter dragged on for about seven years. I lost interest in the case when I left the profession and joined the public service. Construction professionals have the technical knowledge and are best qualified as arbitrators,”the Governor said.

Also speaking at the forum, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Mr. George Ossi stated that arbitration, instead of litigations, should be handy in resolution of construction industry disputes.

The government, he said, was recommending arbitration out of conviction that it has developed into a preferable alternative dispute resolution method in the construction sector as a result of the increasing costs and delays associated with litigation processes.

Ossi noted further that some disputes in the sector were so sensitive and confidential in nature that the disputants may prefer settlement in the privacy provided by arbitration rather than in the public glare of the courts.