EKPO Nta, former Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), has called on professional bodies to monitor the Assets Management Body Bill before the National Assembly for inputs to avoid inter-professional rivalry.

Nta made the call on Wednesday in Abuja in his keynote address at the ongoing 27th Engineering Assembly of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN).

The theme of the assembly is “The Nigerian Built Industry: Building a Sustainable Structure with Allied Professionals.”

He said the National Assembly was currently considering an executive-sponsored legislation for the setting up of an Assets Management Body to manage seized or forfeited assets arising from corruption or criminal cases.

“This bill will include ongoing construction works involving several professional groups.

“There is need for you to meet each other in the industry and come up with a common position as to professional membership and monitoring of services to be rendered.

“If you do not do this, individuals will sabotage the collective good of the various professional bodies or there will be inter-professional rivalries, which may end up in chaos,” he said.

He said the modern day engineering was very relevant in the day-to-day happenings in the hospital given the fact that almost all hospital services, including operations, involve robotics and wireless communication.

According to him, when you talk about “Allied Professionals” in the Built Industry, you need to mentally adjust and restructure your thinking to include more than the traditional industry players.

“For you to have a sustainable infrastructure within and across the professions in your sector, you must be ready to also consider working with full-time lawyers.

“The lawyers must have competence not only in legal matters but more in Ethics and Compliance.

“They will guide you through complex ethical issues involving sourcing for jobs, payment of bribes, gifts to public officials and foreign corrupt practices laws of other countries for joint partnership contracts,” he said.

He cautioned against litigation among members of professional bodies, adding that the more litigation a company was involved, the less trusted it would become with potential future clients.

Nta urged professionals involved in the delivering of projects to have a pre-start off seminar with their team heads, suppliers and bankers to study the contact terms and identify likely problem areas. (NAN)

– Aug. 8, 2018 @ 16:05 GMT |