Estate Surveyors Strategies to Reduce Building Collapse in Nigeria

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

The Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) has said it has developed strategic efforts to reduce the incessant building collapse in the country.

The President of the Institution, Emmanuel Okas Wike, revealed this yesterday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State in his speech to mark the group’s ‘Valuation Day’.

Wike said the programme was aimed at unlocking the wealth of the country and taming incessant building collapse.

He explained that the valuation is not just one of the core competencies of NIESV, but noted that it is central to real estate development and national economic wealth and development.

According to Wike, “Valuation is the determination of the economic worth of assets in all its ramifications. Financial institution, corporate organisations, government and private individuals make critical monetary commitments and decisions on valuation reports.

“And once you get  a valuation wrong, so many other things will automatically go wrong, and that should be  major concern to the practitioners and end users, especially against the attempt by non-estate surveyors and valuers to venture into the practice of valuation.”

The president of NIESV added: “Building collapse entails colossal loss of investment, and we don’t need such losses if our economy must grow. So, people should consult professionals from the design of the construction to finish.”

He frowned at the emerging cases where engineers veer into the core competence of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, pointing out that the enabling law for the practice of the profession, the Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria, Decree No. 24 of the 1975, now CAP E13 LFN 2004, recognises the practice of valuation as the sole prerogative of estate surveyor and valuers.

Wike emphasised that estate surveyors and valuers are the only professionals trained and equipped with the requisite skills to determine the current or projected worth of an asset or a company, saying: “They are responsible for the determination of economic worth of assets in all ramifications, the only professional empowered by training and law to value and fix monetary value on assets.”

He stated that it was wrong and illegal to give valuation jobs to non-estate surveying and valuation firms, stressing that it is against the law of the land.

Wike noted that the NIESV 2022 Valuation Day with the theme: ‘Unlocking Wealth Through Valuation’, is intended to dissect and create awareness on the huge financial potential and benefits embedded in valuation when it is carried out professionally and appropriately.