ICPC, Quantity Surveyors Move to Deepen Anti-Corruption Partnership in Construction Sector

Bennett Oghifo

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS) have commenced moves to deepen collaboration aimed at strengthening transparency, accountability and value-for-money mechanisms in Nigeria’s construction and public procurement sectors.

This emerged during a courtesy visit by the leadership of the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, led by its President, Dr. Aminu M. Bashir, to the headquarters of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission in Abuja, where both institutions pledged to formalise and expand their long-standing partnership in anti-corruption initiatives.

Speaking during the visit, the Chairman of the commission, Dr. Musa Adamu Aliyu, said both organisations shared a common commitment to integrity, ethics and the protection of public resources.
Aliyu stated that while the ICPC pursued its mandate through corruption prevention, law enforcement and public enlightenment, the NIQS ensured professional ethics and accountability in the construction industry through regulation and technical oversight.

According to him, the partnership between the two institutions had become imperative because both bodies were fundamentally committed to ensuring that public resources were honestly managed and protected from abuse.

“It is this shared soul that makes our partnership not merely logical, but something we are genuinely proud to nurture,” he said.

The ICPC chairman recalled that the relationship between the commission and the institute had been strengthened through the Constituency and Executive Projects Tracking Group initiative, under which quantity surveyors were engaged to provide technical support in project valuation and value-for-money assessment for constituency projects.

He disclosed that the commission had, in 2019, formally invited the institute to nominate representatives to serve on the tracking initiative’s steering committee and later requested the deployment of quantity surveyors to selected states across the six geopolitical zones for project monitoring assignments.
Aliyu further expressed support for the institute’s proposal for the adoption of International Cost Management Standards and a unified national Bills of Quantities measurement standard for public projects.

He noted that such measures would reduce ambiguity in project costing and limit opportunities for manipulation in contract administration.

“These are exactly the kinds of forward-looking, preventive measures that our shared mission demands. By removing ambiguity in project costing and limiting the scope for manipulation, these standards will do more to protect the Nigerian taxpayer than many punitive measures we could put in place after the fact,” he said.

The ICPC boss also confirmed the commission’s readiness to formalise its relationship with the institute through a Memorandum of Understanding.

According to him, the proposed agreement would include joint research initiatives aimed at identifying corruption patterns within the construction sector, as well as the establishment of joint committees to drive implementation and policy coordination.

He explained that the proposed ICPC-NIQS Joint Steering Committee would provide policy direction and oversight, while a Technical Working Committee would coordinate day-to-day implementation, research activities and progress reporting.

Aliyu commended members of the institute for what he described as years of professional commitment and patriotic service in supporting the commission’s project-tracking exercises across the country.
“Our achievements in project tracking and value-for-money assurance bear your fingerprints, and Nigeria is better for it,” he added.

Earlier in his remarks, Bashir commended the ICPC for what he described as measurable successes in anti-corruption enforcement and institutional reforms.

He noted that the commission recorded significant recoveries and investigations in 2025, including the recovery of over N37 billion and $2.35 million, while also achieving a conviction rate exceeding 55 per cent.

The NIQS president also congratulated the commission on Nigeria’s recent removal from the Financial Action Task Force grey list, attributing the achievement partly to the commission’s strategic anti-corruption efforts.

Bashir said the institute strongly identified with the philosophy behind the establishment of the Anti-Corruption Academy of Nigeria, stressing that enforcement alone could not transform society without institutional ethical reorientation.

He disclosed that the institute planned to participate in the academy’s training programme scheduled for later in April 2026, with a focus on anti-corruption ethics and integrity in workplaces.
According to him, the academy would serve as a strategic platform for training procurement officers, project managers and public officials in areas relating to cost transparency and infrastructure delivery ethics.

Reflecting on the relationship between both institutions, Bashir said the NIQS had maintained active collaboration with the ICPC since 2015 and had consistently supported various anti-corruption initiatives, including the Constituency and Executive Projects Tracking Group launched in 2019.

He said quantity surveyors deployed under the partnership had contributed significantly to detecting inflated contract sums, uncovering substandard jobs and ensuring the completion of abandoned projects nationwide.

Bashir revealed that the latest phase of the tracking exercise, launched in November 2025, involved the monitoring of 760 federal road projects valued at over N36 trillion across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

He stressed the need to institutionalise the partnership through a formal agreement that would ensure sustainability, structured professional engagement and expanded preventive oversight at the planning and procurement stages of public projects.

The NIQS president maintained that adopting uniform cost reporting and standardised Bills of Quantities frameworks would significantly strengthen transparency and make corruption in construction contracts easier to detect and prevent.

Describing quantity surveyors as “guardians of value for money,” Bashir said the profession occupied a strategic position in safeguarding public resources within the construction value chain.

He expressed confidence that the renewed collaboration between both institutions would usher in a more impactful phase in the fight against corruption in Nigeria’s infrastructure and procurement sectors.