The Nation Newspaper

Category: Building & Properties

  • Secretariat for surgeons

    The foundation for the permanent secretariat of the West African College of Surgeons (WASC) has been laid by the Minister of Health, Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu in Yaba, Lagos. The planned five-strorey building is on Harvey Road, off Medical Compound, Yaba, Lagos Mainland.

    Laying the foundation, the Minister, Prof Chukwu, a Fellow of the College said Nigeria is privileged to have the headquaters of the prestigious college.

    Chukwu said: “This foundation laying marks the attainment of yet another significant milestone in the proud history of the college which has demonstrated in clear terms that you can start small, never despising the days of small beginnings, and you can achieve greatness on the long run, if you believe your ability and trudge on, no matter the daunting challenges on your way.

    “I wish to most heartily commend the initiators of this most noble endeavous for their vision and courage not only in conceptualising a befitting permanent secretariat for the college but daring to put the first foot forward in this march towards the realisation of the dream. You certainly fit the description of surgeons having the vision of eagles and the heart of lions.”

    The Minister he had no doubts that the surgeons would not cringe from seeing the project through no matter the cost, adding: “Only the eyes of the childhood fears a painted devil.”

    The college’s President  Prof Kofi Herve Yangni-Angate, an Ivorien, said the secretariat would serve the college’s needs.

    “The foundation laying ceremony is the beginning of the realisation of this noble dream. It will be a place of innovation; brainstorming; development; building solid human capacities for all the West-African sub-region,” he said.

  • Nigerite unveils special ceiling

    The Marketing Director of Nigerite Limited, Mr Toyin Gbede, has reiterated the company’s commitment to quality products. This, he said, is in tandem with the firm’s drive to sustain its new vision of being the number one market leader in the sector.

    This has led to the introduction of  Klassik Ceil, a four by four feet ceiling, and Nigerite Prestige.

    The Klassik Ceil was unveiled last week to distributors, carpenters and customers in Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ilorin and some other parts of Southwest.

    He said the new product is a child of surveys by the company whose result revealed the preference of the market for three types of pattern, making Nigerite to specially manufacture three pattern machines for that purpose.

    “Although Klassik Ceil emerged the most loved during the survey, it was the one we found most challenging in terms of coming up with the pattern machine. It is the first ceiling product of that size and it comes in white and grey colour. It can also be combined with prestige and plain,” Gbede said.

  • ‘Construction procurement law could save lives, costs’

    ‘Construction procurement law could save lives, costs’

    About seven years ago, the National Assembly enacted the Public Procurement Act to sanitise the procurement process in the building and environment landscape. The effect of the Act is hardly felt in the industry as building collapse and shoddy construction contracts are all over the country. The need to involve professional bodies, such as the Nigeria Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS), formed the focus of a two-day forum in Gombe State. MUYIWA LUCAS writes that other recommendations were made to develop the built environment.

     

    To avoid construction catastrophe and failed projects that have been the regular feature of the built environment in the country, quantity surveyors have been urged to see themselves as professionals at vanguard of construction procurement management. They should, therefore, master the Public Procurement Act and guidelines. Quantity surveyors, as professionals, should also endeavour to guide the procurement process when they are involved.

    Experts that gathered in Gombe State for a two-day seminar, also reiterated the need for practitioners, especially quantity surveyors and bid assessors that recommend bidders that do not have the lowest bid amounts to always justify their recommendations based on convincing comparative rate analysis rather than the old-fashioned system of discarding bids using the band of ±5 or ±10 per cent variance from consultant’s estimate.

     

    Flawed implementation

     

    A quantity surveyor and lecturer, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi (ATBU), Anwalu Sani Sheu, while analysing public procurement guidelines in the country, disclosed that non-composition and inauguration ofthe National Council on Public Procurement (NCPP) as stipulated in the Nigerian Public Procurement Act of 2007, remains a challenge.

    According to him, the exclusion of quantity surveyors from the proposed membership of NCPP, would pose a further challenge when the body is constituted. He blamed this on some stakeholders, especially politicians and government officials, whom he said are reluctant to adjust to the new paradigm shift by employing some tactics to manipulate the procurement process, especially during bid evaluations to favour some bidders.

    Challenges

    Experts at the forum also identified challenges facing the public procurement practice to include lack of capacity by many procurement officers, improper procurement planning in many Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and lack of a national integrated procurement plan.

    NIQS lamented that discrepancies between budgetary appropriation and actual release of funds is another major constraint facing the sector. Others are late release of available funds and subsequent mopping up of funds at the end of the financial year. These were all adjudged to be inimical to the efficient and effective procurement of construction works which usually have project cycles of over six months. Besides, many states and local governments have not domesticated the Procurement Act while those that have were yet to implement it properly despite the huge funds spent on procurements.

    Past President, Association of Consulting Engineers of Nigeria (ACEN), Nurudeen Ranfindadi regretted that many MDAs were still not conversant with the procurement guidelines. This is believed to be a major reason for the annulment of many procurement processes or reversal of contract awards by the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP), due to non-adherence to prequalification guidelines and wrong interpretation of the contentious issue of award of contracts to the lowest bidder.

    Stakeholders are also of the opinion that faking of technical and financial capacities, bribery and under-pricing by bidders abound, leading to compromise in quality delivery, disputes and excessive cost and time overruns of projects. These developments have continued due to the non-enforcement of penalties, or poor enforcement where it is done, and the inability or reluctance to prosecute cases of infractions in public procurements which has become systemic.

    Public procurement is also believed to have suffered financial problem given the alleged stringent control of advance payment funds by banks under the guise of protecting the financial guarantees they provide while on the other hand, they charge contractors high interest rates for releasing the same funds as credit lines provided

    The NIQS, in a communique jointly signed by Secretary, Professional Development and Library, NIQS, Dr. Ejike Bedford Anunike, and Jide Oke, General Manager, Marketing and Communications, said the Act, if well implemented, could ensure economic growth through transparent procurement procedure.

    “The Nigerian Public Procurement Act of 2007 has the capacity to ensure economic, efficient, effective and transparent public procurement. This is a sine-qua non for enhanced national development and economic growth if judiciously implemented,” the communique read.

    Such observation may not be far from the truth because after seven years of a supposed implementation of the Act, corruption, conflicts of interests, fraud and irregularities still afflict public procurement and these have stunted national development and economic growth either through siphoned public funds or poorly planned and executed procurements.

     

    Way forward

    The experts have charted a roadmap to rejuvenate public procurement landscape. Some of the recommended measures include the inauguration of the National Public Procurement Council (NPPC). The membership of this council should include a quantity surveyor, who is an expert in construction procurement and cost management.

    Also, the capacity of the procurement departments /units of all MDAs should be enhanced through intensive training of existing procurement officers and massive employment of quantity surveyors as procurement specialists to strengthen capacity in the area of construction procurement. This is adjudged complex and usually outside the knowledge of procurement officers.

    The Public Procurement Act should specifically clarify the issue surrounding conflict of interest in public procurement by identifying ways of addressing them through training, advisory services and enforcement mechanism. For example, it is being argued that proper procurement plans that will ensure early multi-level and multi-sector consultations must be put in place at the onset.

    Equally, value management, which is a powerful tool for enhancing value for money spent should be integrated into the public procurement cycle and value management report made compulsory for major procurements just like environmental impact assessment is for major projects.

    BPP and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) were also advised to work out suitable standard guidelines for the management of advance payment funds by commercial banks, while the list of non-performing, sanctioned and blacklisted contractors, consultants and suppliers should be displayed on BPP’s website for ease of reference by MDA’s and other interested parties.

    Also, quantity surveyors were advised to seek more knowledge and specialisations in mechanical/electrical (M/E) and security services as it is in the United Kingdom due to massive increase in their content in modern infrastructure projects.

  • Ogun Land Bureau embraces automation

    Ogun State Government has announced the  computerisation of its registry to develop it into a Geographic Information System (GIS).

    This is to capture, store, analyse, share, manage and display all types of geographical data in the Bureau and other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

    The Special Adviser/Director General, Bureau of Lands and Survey, Mr. Adewale Oshinowo, said the aim of the Ogun Geographic Information System (GIS) and Land Management System  (LAMS) project is to ensure that land administration in the state meets the  global standards.

    “This will help the state government to enforce prudent use of government land and ensure compliance with the various land use policies and building regulations, eradicate double allocation of land, ensure easy processing of title documents and prevent loss of land to other states and the neighbouring Benin Republic,” he said.

    Oshinowo listed the  benefits of the project to include the increased survey accuracy, faster local searches for property titles, online search facilities, digital archive of valuable land documents and easier processing of title documents.

    He pointed out that the project would also assist the government to respond quickly to increased demands for land by investors who intend to establish businesses in the state.

    Oshinowo unveiled the scope of the project, which includes implementing an enterprise process and work flow automation system for the Bureau, the Deeds Registry, a functional revenue administration  to complement the revenue administration run centrally by the state government; the physical and digital archiving of documents in the Bureau of Lands and retrieval of the documents in the entire lands registry installation of a Document Management System for archiving of  documents.

    He added that the implementation of a comprehensive Land Information System and an enterprise GIS system with cadastral and base map for the entire state, the geospatial data analysis for the state and the geospatial enterprise operations of the GIS system; the framework for administration of survey controls in the state and executing the correction of second and third order survey controls in the State, acquisition of processed Satellite Imagery of the whole State, execution of the Geoid-computation and framework of entire State and installation and operation of a Continuous Reference Stations (CORS) Network in the State.

    He said the re-engineering of the Bureau’s business processes and work flow will lead to efficient processing of title documents.

    The Work flow Transaction Information Management System, he said, would prevent fraud and ensure that senior management can see exactly what stage and where each document is in the process (no more missing files), and with the Single User Sign-on for each transaction, all activities have audit trails and are traceable to Individuals.

  • Why housing-for-all remains elusive, by FMBN chief

    Why housing-for-all remains elusive, by FMBN chief

    Affordable housing may remain elusive unless the Land Use Act and other impediments to housing, such as cost of property titles, are removed, the Chairman of Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), Chief Bisi Ogunjobi, has said.

    He explained that the mortgage institution may have tried its best, but has not met the yearnings of the majority due to certain constraints that are related to the economy and the mortgage system.

    Ogunjobi said obtaining ownership documents, such as the certificate of occupancy (C of O), remains a  problem which must be tackled. Besides, the cost of getting such titles is too high.

    “It takes quite a long time to get the title to a property like the C of O, which takes three to four years or more. In Lagos State, to have the governor’s consent, which is compulsory in all states, might cost you as much as 20-25 per cent of the cost of the land,” Ogunjobi said, adding that not only are these impediments to having a housing system, but also they make it imperative that there is a need to revise and update the Land Use Act to make it more user friendly.

    When this is accomplished, bottlenecks to people having access and title to land would have become a thing of the past.

    But this is not the only bane to affordable housing in the country. Stakeholders in the sector said  there is a need to have a mortgage system, which encourages a longer time period to buy and pay for houses, say for a 20-30-year tenor and at single digit interest rate. This is the practice in other developed countries. The FMBN chief agrees with this position, saying that long term funds is required for this type of regime to be put in place. But he regrets that this is not easily available because institutional investors such as the operators of the Pension Funds, have not really been very active in the mortgage or housing sector, blaming their seeming inactivity on the restriction of the amount of their resources which they can invest in such projects.

    The issue of foreclosure is another problem that needs to be addressed in the industry. Stakeholders are of the opinion that foreclosure in Nigeria is not favourable because of the delay in getting debts sorted out. “The attitude of Nigerian businessmen not paying back their loans is also a disservice to mortgage in the country. Somebody is owing you and you have no opportunity to take over possession of the property,”  Ogunjobi explained.

    Though the cost of building a house is still high, experts said it should not be so. Noting that a typical house has less than 40 per cent of local materials, they canvassed the use of local materials in the industry, which they reasoned is a key element to bringing down costs.

    Ogunjobi disclosed that the FMBN will soon look at its books, considering that the developers that are owing the mortgage institution are many, adding that this has led to a portfolio of non-performing loans – a development that has become a problem.

    He contended that these are some of the impediments that have impacted on the functions of the PMIs or the FMBN and their ability to function efficiently.

    However, all hope is not lost, he added. With increased capitalisation, the FMBN, through the PMIs, can take on bigger projects and the institutions will be stronger and more robust in fulfilling their mandate.

    They will also be in a position to assist more customers to achieve more; they will also be able to deploy more of their resources in developing the industry. To effectively achieve this will also require that more people are brought into the National Housing Fund (NHF) ambit as contributors, which will enable them to benefit from the FMBN and support the construction of houses for those who contribute to the NHF.

    “At the moment, we have been supporting the developers to be able to build houses, and if we have adequate recapitalisation then our ability to support those programmes becomes much more viable,” Ogunjobi he added.

  • Guinness Nigeria partners NGO on safe water

    Guinness Nigeria Foundation (GNF) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Concern Universal, a United Kingdom-based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO).

    The MoU is meant to improve access to potable water in about 10 communities in Cross River State. The newly inaugurated GNF is the special purpose vehicle through which Guinness Nigeria Plc and Diageo implements its corporate social responsibility programmes in health, education and empowerment and job creation in the Nigerian market.

    Speaking at the signing, Country Director, Concern Universal, Mr. Tim Kellow, applauded Guinness Nigeria Foundation for supporting the Rural Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion in Nigeria (RUSHPIN) programme by providing access to potable water in villages and communities that have achieved open defecation free status in Cross River State.

    Kellow said: “This project is aimed at creating positive impact in Benue and Cross River states. The general unsanitary conditions of villages and communities across these two states often lead to a situation where human and animal faeces are carried into the only source of water in the community, a nearby stream or river. We are working with the local communities to enhance their understanding of the link between poor sanitation, hygiene behaviours and diseases like diarrhea, dysentery and cholera. However, the cycle of improved sanitation and hygiene behaviour will not be complete without access to safe water in villages and communities in Benue State and Cross River State.”

    Director, Corporate Relations, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Mr. Sesan Sobowale, said GNF was delighted to be associated with the initiative, as it resonated with the company’s ‘Water of Life’ programme, which is in line with the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to reduce the number of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation by 2015.

    “I am quite delighted that we can sign this off today. We aim to commence work as soon as the project is commissioned in Calabar. We would also encourage other well-meaning multinational companies, that have deep rooted commitments to the development of host communities, to get involved in this initiative,”  Sobowale said.

    The Head, Sustainability and Responsibility also of Guinness Nigeria Plc, Mrs Adrianne Nwagwu, said: “Our involvement in providing clean water to communities has a remarkable history of its own. We presently have water projects of varying sizes in 15 states of the federation and we have maintained partnerships with other like-minded organisations to support the efforts of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources to attain the MDG goals on water.”

  • Ogun targets 1, 800 sites daily

    The Ogun State government has increased the number of inspection teams for the homeowners’ charter programme from 13 to 52 to meet huge demands and ensure that it meets its 1,800 sites target daily.

    The Director of Land Ratification  Fatai Adeboyejo, made this known when he led a team of surveyors and land officers to some comunities of the state.

    They are Ijebu-Ode, Akute, Sagamu-Ogijo, Abeokuta North, Abeokuta South and Ado-Odo Ota.

    He said on each site, there would be two sets of inspection teams before such property could be validated for Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) and building plan approval.

    “Our people should be aware that town planners are different from surveyors and land officers, when the need arises for the surveyors to work on their sites, they must be available, for the surveyors are for another task entirely,” he explained.

    He enjoined applicants to provide basic requirements such as survey plan, building plan and proof of ownership on land to surveyors during inspection for them to carry out their job effectively.

  • Fed Govt inaugurates committee on NIP

    The Federal Government has inaugurated a project steering committee on National Implementation Plan for the Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) for free environment in Nigeria.

    At the inauguration, the Minister of Environment Mrs. Laurentia Mallam, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mrs. Rabi Jimeta, noted that the efforts of the Ministry to develop the first National Implementation Plan (NIP) in 2007 with stakeholders participation, documented the national status, gaps and intervention policy thrust for addressing POPs management, adding that it had given Nigeria access to international support for executing  priority POPs programmes and projects.

    The Minister assured that a multi-stakeholder committee that is being constituted would form part of the arrangement for the implementation of the enabling activities for the NIP update and review project.

    She said POPs, when not properly managed, have implications for the socio-economic and public health of Nigerians.

    The minister disclosed that the country lost N94 billion to pesticide poison in 2005, noting that the cross-cutting dimension of persistent POPs  management and the magnitude of associated challenges call for collective responsibility among all stake holders in the sector.

    This, she said, could only be  addressed by instituting participatory measures and  a decision making process, assuring that the ministry would take up the challenges to ensure that the NIP project is reviewed, updated, endorsed and sent to the convention secretariat with the involvement of stakeholders in the sector.

    Consequent upon the amendment of Annexes A, B and C to the Stockholm convention on persistent organic pollutants, in 2008 and 2011, it was obligatory for convention parties, Nigeria inclusive to review, update and endorse their originalnational implementation plan, and same be transmitted to the convention secretariat in line with Article 7 of the convention.

    She said when the NIP review and update project is completed, it will further enable Nigeria to attract support for chemicals and POPs management under Global Environment Facility (GEF) – 6 project cycle, which came into effect last month.

  • Lagosians urge govt to reduce cost of LagosHOMS

    Lagosians urge govt to reduce cost of LagosHOMS

    An appeal has gone to the Lagos State government to review the cost of acquiring houses under the Lagos State Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme (LagosHOMS). Lagosians who converge every month on the draw centres to witness the emergence of winners, though applauded the government’s initiative, expressed reservations on the cost.

    An artisan, Babatunde Sogunwa, said he would have loved to participate in the scheme, but lamented that his chances of raising the initial 30 per cent  down payment, remained a daunting challenge.

    A trader, Monsurat Alimi, said much as she desires to own a home in the state, her current financial situation does not guarantee that she would ever be one. She had hoped that the initiative would afford her the opportunity to own a home.

    She said with the cost of acquiring a home under the initiative,  that hope seemed to have been dashed for now.

    Sogunwa and Alimi’s views fairly represent the yearning of majority of the people desiring to benefit from the LagosHoms.

    Under the scheme,  a room and parlour apartment of 60.22  metre square (m2) in Michael Otedola Estate, Odoragunshi, Ikorodu, goes for N4.34 million. For a one bedroom apartment of same size, ranging from type one to type three, sells for between N4.1 million and N9.91million.

    Again, the prices of the homes are determined by their location. Thus,  in locations such as  Shitta, Surulere, this type of apartment goes for N8.25 million. A two-bedroom apartment of type-one to type-four, costs between N6.22 million and N18.61 million.

    The three-bedroom flat category has the widest range of six types, with a price bracket of N14.5 million and N32.53 million, while a terrace three bedroom sells for N8.77 million.

    But against the strident calls for a reduction in the cost of the buildings,  a building consultant, Sunday Ajetunmbi, has called for caution. He said a lot of other costs go into building a house that are unknown to people.

    He said: “You have to consider the cost of the land the building is standing on, you also have to consider the location of the building. More importantly, the scheme is powered by a mortgage system; so we should understand that some people put their money down for the comfort of others.”

    Ajetunmbi added that the stress of land speculators otherwise known as omo onile is taken off the necks of winners under the scheme.

    Lagos State Governor,  Babatunde Fashola (SAN), had at one of the draws, restated his administration’s  commitment to the provision of affordable housing  in a sustainable way to Lagosians. He said criticisms that the cost of the houses are too high should not arise because his administration never promisesd to deliver low-cost housing but affordable housing whereby owners could pay over a long period of time.

    The Governor explained that low-cost housing could not be provided in a sustainable way when there is no low-cost land, low–cost labour and low building materials, even in the face of  declining value of the naira.

    “Some people have criticised us that homes under our mortgage scheme are not low-cost but these people cannot point to one place where our government promised to build low cost houses.

    “We did not promise low-cost housing. What we promised was affordable housing and people should not accuse us of not doing what we did not promise. I have always reiterated since I was campaigning as a governorship candidate in 2007 that my commitment to the people of Lagos is affordable housing and that is what we are delivering,” he had said.

    Fashola had also said his administration had approved and released additional N2 billon to  contractors under the scheme. Fashola, who expressed satisfaction with the success recorded so far in the scheme, said the release of the money is to mobilise more contractors to site so that more houses could be delivered to more people. “The LagosHoms delivers 200 homes monthly; we can do more than this figure considering the number of people that have shown interest. So I urge our contractors to try and speed up construction, but without compromising quality and standard in the construction,” he said.

    So far, 235 home owners have emerged under the scheme since the monthly draws began last March.

  • Fed Govt moves to save North from desertification

    The Federal Government has taken steps to contain desertification in the North. Desertification, caused largely by deforestation, is threatening farmlands and, if left unchecked, could endanger the lives of over 40 million people.

    The Minister for the Environment, Mrs. Laurentia Mallam, during an awareness and sensitisation campaign in Zamfara and Kebbi states, lamented that more than 35 per cent of the country’s land area is threatened by desertification.

    She said the campaign was aimed at tree planting and deployment of local efforts to check gully erosion  the government she said, is determined to implement the project in Kano, Yobe, Borno, Adamawa, Katsina, Jigawa, Bauchi, Gombe and Sokoto.

    She charged the states to support the government’s effort to  curb the menace.

    The government’s plan to save the northern states from the menace is anchored on  the Great Green Wall (GGW) project, an initiative proposed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to the African Union (AU) to check desert encroachment and desertification affecting countries bordering the Sahara Desert.

    The GGW initiative is a pan-African proposal to green ”the continent from West to East in order to battle desertification. It aims at tackling poverty and degradation of soils in the Sahel – Saharan region. From the initial idea of planting a line of trees from east to west through the African desert, the vision of a Great Green Wall is said to have evolved into that of a mosaic of interventions addressing the challenges facing the people of the north.

    GGW, also seen as a programming tool for rural development, is expected to strengthen the resilience of the region’s inhabitants and the natural systems through a sound and effective ecosystem management, the protection of rural heritage, and the improvement of the living conditions of the local people. It will also improve local incomes in the long run. For instance, the Chief Executive Officer of the Pan-African Agency for the GGW, Prof Abdoulaye Dia, during a recent visit to Nigeria said the project was not only about forestation but a means of eliminating rural poverty on the continent.

    He stressed the need for Nigeria to integrate agriculture into the project to ensure that the rural dwellers were not left out of the envisaged benefit. He charged the country to take the leadership role expected of her on the GGW. Mrs Mallam is convinced that the GGW will address these issues as well as play positive roles in the fight against the insurgencies in the northern part of the country.

    “It is a collective responsibility for everybody to protect the environment. If the environment is not conducive, a lot of activities will be affected. We must plant trees to ensure we protect against desertification. Lives and properties were lost during the wind break in Zamfara,” Mrs Mallam said, while appealing to residents of the states to refrain from felling trees, adding that whenever it became inevitable for them to do so, then one felled tree should be replaced with five replanted trees. When this is done, the Minister assured that desertification will be effectively checked in the north.