Unethical Practices in Nigerian Construction Industry: Prospective Engineers’ Viewpoint

This paper is an attempt to survey some unethical practices in the Nigerian construction industry. To carry out this study, a twentyitem questionnaire tagged “Engineering Ethics Scale” EES was designed. The questionnaires were administered to 200 prospective civil and structural engineering students at the University of Benin, Nigeria. Their response pattern was analyzed, and the unethical practices that ranked highest in descending order were 1. Contractors obtain vital information on a contract by paying agreed sums of money to officials of the awarding organizations. 2. A contractor must include a “kickback” in his tender or else he will not win the contract. 3. Contract officers engineers, quantity surveyors, etc. have a vested interest on the jobs they are advising on. 4. Subcontracting to multiple vendors is a common practice that leads to the abandonment of projects in Nigeria. 5. Winning a contract depends on how well in advance a bidder negotiates for the “kickbacks.” These findings clearly indicate that unethical practices are prevalent in Nigeria’s construction industry. This result signifies the urgent need for an intervention program to be carried out through seminars and workshops. A course on construction management ethics should be introduced and emphasized in the undergraduate training program so that scientists and engineers will go into the construction industry with a new, positive outlook on the maintenance of engineering ethics. This will enable the country to experience the technological growth desired in our construction industry. This study will evolve affirmative action and policies in the field of engineering practice.