By Dipo Olowookere
The president and chairman of the council of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Mr Emmanuel Okas Wike, has condemned the use of non-practitioners for the valuation of assets by property owners.
Speaking with newsmen in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Thursday, Mr Wike said the law does not permit someone who is not a member of the institute to evaluate properties in the country as anyone caught risks going against the law and can be punished.
According to him, estate surveyors and valuers are the only professionals trained and equipped with the requisite skills of determining the current or projected worth of an asset or a company.
“In other words, estate surveyors and valuers are responsible for the determination of the economic worth of assets in all its ramifications, the only professionals empowered by training and law to value and fix a monetary value on assets.
“It is, therefore, absolutely wrong, and illegal to give valuation jobs to non-estate surveying and valuation firms. It is against the law of the land because valuation is a service that the law of this country exclusively gives to estate surveyors and valuers,” he said.
The NIESV president then declared that, “Let it be put on record that the enabling law for the practice of our profession, the Estate Surveyors & Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria Decree No. 24 of 1975, now CAP E13 LFN 2004 recognizes the practice of valuation as the sole prerogative of estate surveyors and valuers.”
Mr Wike described valuation as an important activity that must not be messed with because “once you get valuation wrong, many other things will automatically go wrong and that should be a 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.”
He used the occasion to announce the maiden Valuation Day put together by the institute and themed Unlocking the Nation’s Wealth through Valuation.
The NIESV leader explained that, “We intend to dissect and create awareness on the huge financial potentials and benefits which are embedded in valuation when it is carried out professionally and appropriately.”
“There are globally accepted standards to undertaking valuation which you will find in a well-documented Nigerian Valuation Standards otherwise known as the Green Book used by estate surveyors and valuers and which unarguably has enhanced the quality of valuation services in Nigeria. Efforts shall be made to get other countries to adopt the initiative,” he assured.
“We also intend to re-awaken public awareness on the importance and benefits of valuation, its wealth creation capability and the need to always engage the legally recognised providers of this important service, which is the estate surveyors and valuers,” Mr Wike added.
