While stating that efficient housing finance market can only be made possible by strengthening mortgage banks, NIQS charged the new leadership to uphold the ethics of profession and conduct the affairs of the institution with high sense of responsibility

AS the nation is facing a huge housing gap, with deficit of over 17 million units, members of the Nigeria Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS) have warned that the problem of housing in Nigeria will persist unless the private sector leads the way.

NIQS president, Mallam Murtala Aliyu, a former Minister of State for Power made the submission at the investiture ceremony and inauguration of executive members of FCT chapter led by Mr. Salimonu Rasheed as chairman. He noted that government could only intervene, by strengthening the capacity of mortgage lending institutions toward building an efficient housing finance market.

He said: “When houses become commoditised, more people can buy and sell and a lot more people can buy directly for residential purposes,” he said adding that there are many components to reducing housing costs one of which is availability of locally developed materials.

“There are agencies responsible for that and they are doing well. The task is not only the task of quantity surveyors but a task of all the professional groups in the built environment. It is a very long process and the new leadership must be able to continue from where others stopped,” the president said.

He charged the new leadership to uphold the ethics of the quantity surveying profession while also conducting the affairs of the institution with high sense of responsibility. While saying that there must be intense training of members to ensure that they are abreast of developments in the industry, Aliyu explained that the measure will increase the of quality membership.

Rasheed, who pledged to collaborate with other professionals in the built environment to fashion out strategies toward solving the huge housing shortfall in the country, said that the body is contemplating a housing action plan, a strategic framework of outlines, which the chapter will develop with other professionals in the built environment.

He said the administration would take advantage of cost expertise on the quantity surveying profession to make a difference by proffering ideas that will help in delivering quality and affordable homes to Nigerians.

“As cost consultants, the new administration is poised to make a difference by making significant contribution to the quest for affordable housing, he said.

“This we will do by proffering new ideology which will be useful, if implemented, by the authorities,” he said just as he explained that housing is also a matter of taste, and a matter of what the buyer wants.