President, Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS), Mr Obafemi Onashile, has urged operators in construction industry to adopt the JCT 2011 form of contract as basis of addressing challenges in construction practices.
Onashile made the call in Lagos on Tuesday, July 24, 2018 at a two-day workshop organised by the institute with the theme: “Construction Contracts Best Practices’’.
He described the JCT 2011 as a form of contract used for construction purposes.
Onashile said that the workshop was an intensive training programme focussed on both building and engineering forms of contract used in the construction industry.
According to him, the Nigerian construction industry has been operating with the JCT 1963, which was obsolete, saying that there was need to upgrade to JCT 2011 of the international standard.
He said that for the past few decades, construction industry has not been developing due to obsolescence of the methods and procedures of operation in the industry.
“The JCT form of construction has been in existence since time immemorial. But Nigeria is still using the JCT 1963.
“In United Kingdom, it has been reversed severally; in 1998, 2005, 2011 and even in 2016.
“The progress has gone beyond where we are in Nigeria. The country is lagging.
“Nigeria must not be left behind. To benchmark our industry to the international standard, the construction industry must upgrade to the JCT 2011 of the world best practice,” Onashile said.
In his remarks, Mr Segun Ajanlekoko, President, Common Wealth Association of Surveying and Land Economy (CASLE), said that JCT 2011 was one of the reforms, which operators in the construction industry had been clamoring for.
Ajanlekoko said that the JCT 2011 was not limited to only quantity surveyors but should cut across other professions of the built environment sector, particularly the architects and engineers.
According to him, it is only when the concerned operators in the industry imbibed the approach that its effects will be felt.
He said that adoption of the technique would bring about remarkable development in construction industry.
“Quantity surveyors are becoming updated with the JCT 2011; and other players in the industry need to do the same because we cannot continue to operate with old days methods.
“Henceforth, NIQS professional examination will be based on JCT 2011 and anyone who passes it is assumed to have met the international standard of operation,” he said.
Also, Mr Peter Barnes, Director, Blue Sky ADR Ltd., United Kingdom, said that the three forms of JCT 2011 construction contracts could be adoptable and effective in Nigeria.
Barnes said that JCT 2011 construction contract could be in the form of lump sum contracts, measurement contracts and construction reimbursable contracts.
He said that application of any form of JCT 2011 was a way of ensuring ‘ease of doing business’ in the construction industry.
According to him, it creates room for application of world best practice and encourages foreign operators and investors into the Nigerian construction economy.
By Lilian Okoro
