•Inducts new members
The days of quackery in the real estate business may be numbered, if the initiatives being put in place by an industry regulator is anything to go by. This is because the Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria (ESVARBON), under the current regime, is bent on tackling quacks operating as estate surveyors in the country.
One of these measures, according to the body, is the planned introduction of the use of adhesive stamps to replace the conventional stamps currently being used by the practitioners in the country. This would be computer-based and experts have been engaged by the board to work on the computer platform to operate the stamps. For a long time, quackery has been a hydra-headed problem for both ESVARBON and the Nigeria Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV).
The Chairman of ESVARBON, Mr. Williams Odudu, who made this known while speaking at the 36th induction ceremony for newly registered estate surveyors and valuers held at the Senate Chambers of the Old National Assembly Complex, Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos, assured that he would fight quackery headlong. He explained that the focus of his board is to substantially reduce the nefarious activities of quacks by registering many more qualified estate surveyors and valuers in the country.
To achieve this goal, the board, Odudu said, has put the requisite machinery in place, in collaboration with the relevant law enforcement agencies, to check the spread of fake practitioners and bring culprits to book.
“It is worthy to stress that the board has instituted actions in courts against quacks, who would not heed its warning. Let me emphasise here that the focus of the current board is to battle quacks to a standstill. Also, the need for the use of the adhesive stamps to seal valuation reports is based on the desire of the board to effectively monitor the quality of valuation reports being prepared by practitioners for their numerous clientele,” he explained, adding that the practice of estate surveying in the country will longer be business as usual.
At the induction, 202 new practitioners got their stamps and seals to practice in the country, increasing the number of registered estate surveyors to 604 in Nigeria. Odudu admitted that the inadequacy of estate surveyors in the country may have contributed to the multiplicity of non-professionals’ entry into its fold. He reckoned that an accelerated registration of new members to meet the rapidly increasing demand for their services is desirous to curb quackery.
Also at the induction, a former Executive Director, Estate Services, Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Mr. Eteng Ibiang Eteng, argued that while the profession was witnessing numerical growth as evidenced in the annual turnout of graduates, the quality of practice has been on the decline. “The older surveyors have practice proficiency, which reflects their clear understanding of the principles behind what they do. These form the basis of the confidence and responsibility they exude in practice and life. But today, we cannot say this of the up-coming surveyors. Young surveyors in a practice spend more effort pursing private lettings, scales and bother less about understanding what the profession is about,” he lamented.
Eteng blamed several malpractices on ignorance, incompetence, incorrect reporting and lack of integrity, among others. For instance, he said, when drawing up compensation assessment, some practitioners over-estimate crops and economic trees numerically and over-value improvements out of context with the provisions of the law in order to attract underserved direct personal financial benefits from claimants. This, he said, leads to bloated compensation claims resulting in escalated projects costs to the public sector and a drain on government resources.
