Nigeria's Quantity Surveyors and Fiscal Responsibility Commission Partner Against Procurement Abuse

The Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS) has pledged to offer its expertise in forensic cost auditing for federal government ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs). This initiative aims to curb contract inflation, misrepresentation of value, and procurement irregularities. The NIQS will also contribute during the pre-appropriation and Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) review stages, where fiscal risks are most significant.

This commitment was formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing between the NIQS and the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) in Abuja. The FRC, established in 2007, is tasked with promoting macroeconomic stability, ensuring public finance transparency and accountability, and enforcing prudent resource management.

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Quantity surveyors operate at the precise intersection where public funds are either protected or lost, explaining that they measure costs, verify values, detect inflationary practices, and provide forensic evidence where contracts have been manipulated, thereby supporting accountability and transparency.

NIQS President Dr. Aminu Mohammed Bashir emphasized the critical need for professional cost intelligence in capital projects to achieve prudent and transparent public expenditure. He described the collaboration as a functional necessity, building on a previous MoU from 2021, to deepen their shared conviction in managing public resources with discipline and professional rigor. Quantity surveyors, he explained, are positioned at the crucial intersection where public funds can be either protected or lost, measuring costs, verifying values, and detecting inflationary practices.

The NIQS will support the FRC through joint physical verification exercises to ensure reported project realities align with budget and expenditure returns. They will also provide specialized capacity-building programs for FRC staff in areas like construction economics and capital project costing, further strengthening accountability and transparency in public finance.

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The FRC’s mandate to ensure prudent and transparent public expenditure cannot be fully achieved without professional cost intelligence for capital projects, describing the collaboration between the two institutions as a functional necessity rather than a matter of convenience.