An unprecedented scale of valuation jobs might have been thrown up for estate surveyors and valuers, after months of uncertainty which pervaded the property market, leading to slow down in transactions and cuts in rental values in most highbrow areas of the country.
The opportunities are being promoted by the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Disposal of Assets Forfeited to the government, a fall-out from the recommendations of the Presidential Audit Committee on recovery and management of stolen assets, which called for proper coordination and disposal of assets.
Specifically, the committee, in compliance with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act 2007, has invited proposals for the valuation of forfeited assets.
Under the initiative, consulting estate surveyors and valuers are to be engaged in the valuation of landed properties; plants and machinery, vehicles, electronics, furniture and equipment that include water vessels, canoes, boats, barges and ship as well as jewellery, ornaments and clothing materials.
According to the committee, the services offered to the estate surveyors will ensure proper coordination and valuation of the government’s assets and promote a uniform, harmonised and transparent procedure for disposal of forfeited assets in line with the anti-corruption drive of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
The Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) has earlier commended the setting up of the committee as proceeds the disposal would serve as additional revenue for the country especially with the fall in oil revenue.
MEANWHILE, NIESV president, Sir Emmanuel Wike, has welcomed the invitation of their members to bid for the consultancy jobs under the exercise.
He commended the Federal Government for incorporating their requests into the proposed disposal of the forfeited assets.
He said, “As a professional body, we are willing and ready to partner with the government through the committee in this assignment of national importance.
“This is in line with our position that the assets in question must be enumerated and valued by professional estate surveyors and valuers to determine their current market values and to place same on the properties and other assets,” he said.
Wike further urged the committee to discharge its national assignment with utmost dignity, transparency, fairness and responsibility in the interest of the country.
He said: “as a nation, we are in a precarious situation and all hands must be on deck to rescue of a shrinking economy.
“The much-desired change in Nigeria will come when the right professionals are fully engaged for services they are trained to perform. We commend the Federal Government once again for moving in that direction.” (Guardian)
