A Fellow of Nigeria Institute of Quantity Surveyors QS Dr, James Etim has stated that quantity surveyors should be ethical in the discharge of their professional duties. He made the statement while speaking to newsmen at the 2023 annual assembly of registered surveyors. Excerpts;

May we know your name officially?

My name is QS Dr. James Etim (FNIQS). I am a registered quality surveyor. I am a fellow Nigeria Institute of Quantity Surveyors.

What is the input of the event to national development?

What we have here is called “annual assembly” – the assembly of all registered quality surveyors in Nigeria. We use the platform to induct or register new professionals into the profession. That is what we are here to do. It is a two-day programme, since yesterday and it is coming to an end today.

What is the take home of this annual event?

The essence is to bring registered quantity surveyors together so that we can discuss relevant issues that affect us and the profession itself. We can focus on those things we have discussed in the past and look at a way forward. Have we been able to put them in order, have we been able to put them into the right perspective?

That is why we gather once a year. It is called the annual assembly of registered quantity surveyors.

What is your advice to those that are getting awards today?

We don’t give awards today. What we do is just to appreciate people by giving out our plaques to those who participated in one way or the other, either by being a panelist or delivering a lecture, on one thing or the other you have done to raise this programme. It is just a way of appreciation, we don’t give awards.

We don’t give awards. What we can say generally is especially for those in the construction industry is, they should be able to synergize so that we will be able to cut down the rate of quackery in the building industry, because we have collapse today, that is why we are gathering to talk ourselves into all these issues.

How will you encourage people to come into this institute?

The Quantity Surveyors Registration Board of Nigeria (QSRBN) is not an institute; we have the Nigeria Institute of Quantity Surveyors that is our association. Quality Surveyors Registration Board of Nigeria as it were, is the government regulatory agency under the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, which regulates proper conduct of registered quantity surveyors.

What is your goodwill message?

We advise that registered quantity surveyors should be ethical in their professional discharge, no cutting corners, no lying- anything that will jeopardize the integrity of the profession, that is what we advise that we hold on to.