Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, on Tuesday inaugurated the reconstituted Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria (ESVARBON) with a charge on the board to reconcile the disparity between the country’s land evaluation system and the current economic realities.
In his remarks before the brief ceremony at the Ministry’s Headquarters in Abuja, Mr Fashola also urged the professionals to develop an open evaluation for the different parts of the country as well as evolve means of making the practice of estate valuation simple enough and responsive to the man on the street.
Noting that because of the global economic slowdown property owners in some other jurisdictions were offering discounts on their properties to ensure optimum occupancy, the minister wondered why the reverse was currently the case in the country where, according to him, the economy was being greatly challenged by tight capital.
He told his guests, “For me, I think the most important lessons that I like to share at this inauguration is to pose the question to you whether the current land evaluation system and values are consistent with the realities of our economy. You, as experts, must answer that question.
“In a very challenging economy where cash is clearly tight, is the market value really responding appropriately? Are these values consistent with reality? Why are we not seeing rates and rents and values drop? Why are we having many houses unoccupied where people are looking for accommodation?”
The minister, who noted that property owners in the country had often argued that the properties were valued higher so they could have an “impact on percentages and commissions”, added, “As we reconstitute the new board and as we work together to rebuild our economy, those are the questions that I would like to leave you with to respond to”.
Congratulating the chairman and members of the reconstituted board, Fashola who noted with pleasure the broad mix of experience and value that were brought to the board, declared: “This Board has, among many other responsibilities, the responsibility for registering persons who are fit and qualified to serve and practice as estate surveyors and valuers and also to the responsibility to regulate the standard and the knowledge and the general practice of the profession in our country”.
In his remarks, Chairman of the of the Board, Mr. Olayinka Sonaike, thanked the minister and the Federal Government for the opportunity and privilege given the members to serve on the board adding that the members of the profession were in a fit position to contribute to the economic growth of the country.
Requesting that the budgetary allocation to the board be released to it expeditiously after the signing of the 2017 Appropriation Bill, the chairman pledged that with the collaboration of the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, the board would carry out its job effectively.
He said the Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers of Nigeria had already completed a database of properties in Lagos State with the intention to work in other states of the federation promising that the board would continue to work toward reconciling the disparity between land evaluation system in the country and her economic realities.
