By Bennett Oghifo
The Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS), the umbrella body for all Quantity Surveyors in the country, has disowned Mr. John Osagie Otema who has been sentenced to 50 years’ imprisonment for raping a 19-year old student of the University of Lagos.
The President of the Institute, Mohammed Abba Tor, FNIQS, made the clarification in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja yesterday, saying Mr. Otema is not a Quantity Surveyor.
Tor made reference to several reports which referred to the convict as a “Quantity Surveyor and a facility Manager.” The report said Otema was found guilty by an Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court on two-counts of rape and harming his victim, a 19-year-old student of the University of Lagos.
But the NIQS President, in a statement titled, “Re: UNILAG Alumnus Jailed 50 Years for Raping Student on Campus” noted that Otema is not a member of the Institute.
The statement reads in part, “It is necessary to inform the public that as the professional body saddled with the responsibility of training, regulating and continuously enhancing ethical standards and technical competence of Quantity Surveying practice in Nigeria, we can say without any fear of equivocation that convict under reference, Mr. Otema is not a Quantity Surveyor.
“Available record shows that Mr. Otema was at no time either trained or certified by the Institute to practice the profession of Quantity Surveying in Nigeria.”
The statement added that the Institute would never harbour or spare any of its members that commit crime, emphasising that the NIQS is a responsible body run by a strict code of ethics.
