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Estate surveyors decry marginalisation in govt’s appointments

By Tunde Alao
28 December 2015   |   2:00 am
CONCERNED that the federal authorities have left out members of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) in its appointments, the Lagos State Branch has called on the government to address the perceived marginalisation of the professional body.
Participants at the Plant and Machinery Valuation training, organised by Messrs Paul Osaji and Company, an estate Surveyors and Valuer, in conjunction with the American Society of Appraisers, in Lagos, recently

Participants at the Plant and Machinery Valuation training, organised by Messrs Paul Osaji and Company, an estate Surveyors and Valuer, in conjunction with the American Society of Appraisers, in Lagos, recently

The argument is that if the government really wants to drive the developmental process of the country, the federal government should ruminates on the importance of using the professionals as ministers

CONCERNED that the federal authorities have left out members of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) in its appointments, the Lagos State Branch has called on the government to address the perceived marginalisation of  the professional body.

The Chairman of the Branch, Mr. Samuel Ukpong who made the disclosure at the Annual General Meeting (AGM), of the institution held in Lagos recently, said despite the fact that performance of professionals in the built environment determine the overall social and economic development of the country, President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration choose to marginalised the estate surveyors in his ministerial appointments.

He said, “A lot of people have been giving kudos to the federal government on the ministerial appointments, we want to join but with a caveat, the president has not done very well to merge the ministries together especially the ministry of housing, merging it with works and power.

Without prejudice to the person of the Minister of Power, Housing and Works, we think it is a disservice to the nation and we want to hold an opinion that it is not proper. 30 years ago when the president was in government, the population of Nigeria was about 90 million, right now we are in the region of 170 million, we also have a housing deficit of 17 million which means it is a very serious matter.

So putting it in the purview of just one minister is not just right. Nigeria as a country is expanding, responsibilities needs to be given to the people. Now another thing that worries us about that appointment is that someone from the built environment was not even appointed.
“So why are we not putting round pegs in round hole. I cannot remember the last time an estate surveyor was made a minister in this country. But I discovered we have minister of water resources and you know every activities starts on land. Why don’t we have some from real estate sector, someone who understands the nitty- gritty of the environment as a minister?”

Ukpong affirmed that such fundamental posers are very key, if the government really wants to drive the developmental process of the country, noting that it is high time the federal government ruminates on the importance of using the professionals.

He said at any international conferences, the question has been what their Nigerian counterparts are doing? It should be realized that that the international financial standards is an accounting standards, yet, it recognize that the inputs of the estate surveyors and valuers are sacrosanct in the scheme of things.
“ No valuation of asset can be carrying out without the valuation done by estate surveyors and valuers. We have accountant general, auditor –general, solicitors general, but we don’t have a valuer-general, despite their relevance to all sectors of the economy, a lot of infrastructure are decaying because they are not being managed by estate surveyors and valuers.
“Its so unfortunate that the federal government has taken us for granted. We are critical in the implementation of issues relating to built-environment. The government should take us seriously.”

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