Valuers seek responsibility in fight against corruption

Fight against corruption can be more successful if the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers is made partner in the struggle.

Speaking at the opening of the 2015 Mandatory Continuing Professional Development Seminar in Abuja last Thursday, National Chairman Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, Elder Williams Oruka Odudu reminded the gathering that only Estate Surveyors and Valuers are empowered by law to value assets.

He called on the Bureau of Public Procurement to ensure that non registered valuers are not allowed to do jobs.

Odudu tasked the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) saying, it’s not enough to declare assets. Registered valuers must be engaged to verify the documents and value of the declared assets, adding that by this, valuers can be useful in the fight against corruption.

He charged valuers to do valuation based on the set template as valuation outside that will not be accepted.

Also speaking, Chairman, Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Branch Mr Emmanuel Alao noted that overdependence of Nigeria on revenue from oil sector has caused much harm to the country’s economy.

Therefore, resorting to land resources as revenue and fixing the loopholes in real estate taxation will help Nigeria.

He said successful, should to consideration

for this to be government have more

for estate surveyors and valuers because “We’re well versed with the relevance of taxes especially on landed property which is a major source of revenue of government revenue anywhere in the world.”

Alao who noted that since 1970’s, over 80 percent of annual revenue of the three tiers of government comes from oil hailed the establishment of the FCT Board of Internal Revenue saying it will tackle the several gaps in a number of collectable taxes created by the First Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

He said though property tax is hard to avoid because it is visible and immovable, it is not exploited to its fullest extent due to weakness in property assessment and administration.

Theme of the seminar was: Alternative Revenue Generation for National Development: The Relevance of the Estate Surveyors and Valuers.

The meeting was avenue to retrain estate valuers as well as ventilate an overview of the important interventions of the profession in nation building.