The Quantity Surveyors’ Registration Board of Nigeria (QSRBN) has said the much hope entrusted on the Renewed Hope Housing may have some drawbacks as a result of two major factors. Its president Obafemi Onashile stated this at their 2025 QS Annual Assembly organized in partial fulfillment of its roles and functions in setting Standards and regulating the practice of QS Profession in Nigeria said lack of funding at the required time as well as defective contracts arrangements may impede the success of the much valued project .Onashile said he hoped the Federal Government and the National Assembly would give more support to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development to complete these projects on schedule.Speaking on defective contracts arrangements, he noted that these are also avoidable missteps of project owners (both Government and private developers) that often jeopardize the outcomes of project deliveries. Fortunately, these can be controlled, in fact eliminated if the qualified and licensed professional Quantity Surveyors are engaged on such projects he stated.He said: ‘To ensure that professional Quantity Surveyors can sustain such abilities and even excel in these endeavors, are the reasons why the Board (QSRBN) decided that the theme for this year’s Assembly should focus on Construction Contracts to ensure a smooth relationship and operations of any construction activity’. According to him there should be an agreement that should set out the true intentions of the parties and duties and obligations of each party as well as any other persons whose roles will be important to the successful delivery of the construction activity.For successful delivery of the project he suggested a wide spectrum of options of contract forms available to make a choice out of.‘There are the globally accepted Standard Forms of Construction Contracts e.g. the Joint Tribunal Contracts (JCT) Standard Forms of Building Contracts, the Fédération Internationale des Ingenieurs Counseils (FIDIC), Standard Forms of Contracts, and the New Engineering Contracts (NEC) Forms of Contracts. ‘Each of these is made up of a suite of different versions to apply to different shades or nature of the particular construction activity. There are also other forms in terms of bespoke or purpose made contracts contrived, based on the needs or perceptions of the project owners or even the contractors where these are referred to as “Terms/ conditions of sales or services”.According to the QSRBN president, making the right choice for any particular project is key. He further called attention to the issue of the need to be constantly abreast of pitfalls that have occurred in the use of a particular Standard form of contract that might have come up through some Court judgments or through the updating of Laws over the years.He said: ‘The use of outdated or obsolete standard forms of contract may jeopardize the outcome of a project. A survey of the construction industry by the Board (QSRBN) on the performance of construction contracts has revealed that despite having contracts on construction projects there is no guarantee that there will be smooth and satisfactory relations on the projects. Oftentimes, a party is left with a sour taste at the end of project deliveries, in terms of feelings of financial losses’.He said: ‘Attempts at addressing these losses by going into disputes as entrenched in virtually all construction contracts from accounts of experiences recorded from the Nigeria construction industry have proven ineffective and even have resulted in more losses. The commonest dispute resolution method inserted in construction contracts is the Arbitration. There are peculiar reasons for this choice of disputes resolution in construction contracts. Some of these are:- i) Need for confidentiality ii) Need for speed of review and conclusion on dispute iii) To maintain cordiality of relationships of party iv) Resolutions to be more technically and proportionately considered in view of the commercial terms originally agreed by the parties’.He regretted that construction contracts arbitration practices have become bastardized and added that arbitration proceedings to resolve construction disputes now take ages even to obtain arbitral Awards, talk less of the ability to enforce the Awards. According to him a major implication of frustrations in construction contracts and in disputes resolutions is that it discourages investments in Nigeria by foreigners (i.e keeps off Foreign Direct Investments) and in construction activities in Nigeria in particular.Another implication is that investors in construction projects (both the government and private investors) end up with devastating financial losses, he added.
