Members of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) recently converged on Lagos for the head of practice (HoP) Business Executive Forum to harp on an industry-wide standardised framework of practice on valuation for practitioners.
Speaking at the event, Victor Adekunle Alonge, senior partner, Nelson Thorpe Alonge, vice chairman, Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria (ESVARBON) and chairman, Professional Practice Committee of ESVARBON, said: “No doubt, property is an essential commodity. As one of the three key factors of production, it provides a strong base on which to build our profession. It is the largest class of asset in the balance sheets of businesses and for the security of lenders to business. It is a principal outlet for investment by savings industry. And it plays a major part in most of our lives – our homes.”
Alonge, who made the observation in a presentation, titled, ‘Practical Guidance on The Green Book: ‘Compliant Valuation’,’ said the Green Book was the name given to ‘The Nigeria Valuation Standards’ as a regulatory document that was publicly presented on 12 December 2018.
According to him, it is a set of mandatory rules and guidelines for registered surveyors and valuers (RSVs) to follow when undertaking valuations.
He further said that the Nigeria Valuation Standards tagged, ‘The Green Book’, has come to stay and would continue to be a key part of estate surveyors’ valuation practice in Nigeria.
He urged practitioners to embrace the project whole-heartedly, saying, “It is both in our interest (as valuers) and that of the public (users of valuation services) to make a success of The Green Book through effective and informed implementation and massive awareness campaign.”
Speaking further on the regulatory guideline provided by The Green Book, Alonge said it successfully combined professional, technical and performance standards in order to deliver high quality valuation advice that meets the expectations and requirements of all stakeholders.
“Valuation of properties is at the core of professional services offered by estate surveyors and valuers. It is clearly the most high profile of our range of professional services and earns us our treasured membership of the comity of respected professionals,” he said.
According to him, property valuation practice is hardly precise and comparatively less-efficient. “In the absence of any prescribed standards, guidelines or reporting formats, valuers do have a lot of ‘flexibility’ in tweaking the assumptions, calculations and approaches. It is the exercise of this unguided ‘flexibility’ by valuers that results in negligent property valuation practices with accuracy and integrity issues,” Alonge said, adding that valuation is a soft science that is generally accepted to involve science and art, and a great deal of individual professional judgment that can be said to be subjective.
Marie Therese Phido, chief executive officer, Elevato and Associates, in her presentation on ‘Practice, Partnership and Collaboration’, urged participants to develop strategies to improve partnership and collaborative work environment, and to be aware of obstacles that could hinder their partnerships and collaborations.
SEYI JOHN SALAU
