Why estate surveyors seek public awareness, collaboration

A major issue estate surveyors and valuers say they are battling with is the lack of adequate awareness among the general public as to who they are and what they do as key real estate professionals.

This is why the land economy professionals under the aegis of Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Lagos State Branch, are working hard to bring awareness of their profession and their role in the real estate sector to the grassroots.

To make this happen, the branch chairman, Olabisi Demola-Alade, said they were seeking the support and collaboration of members of the public, especially the media, in making people understand who they are to be able to patronize their members instead of quacks and wrong professionals in the real estate sector.

Besides estate surveying and valuation, estate surveyors are also involved in providing estate agency service and, as professionals, they are the go-to and the right entities to patronize by prospective renters, home buyers and office space leases, according to Demola-Alade.

The chairman, who spoke to newsmen to mark her first 200 days in office, highlighted some of the milestones she and her exco members have been able to accomplish within the time frame.

Read also: Lekki-Epe road, health top priorities as Lagos raises N137.3bn bond

“On May 26, 2021, the Branch held its Executive Committee election, which gave birth to a new Executive with the first female chairman of the Branch in the person of Olabisi Demola-Alade,” the chairman recalled.

She recalled further that, without wasting time, the new chairman unfolded her 10-Point Agenda, which was unanimously approved and supported by all Exco members, adding that the exco immediately rolled their sleeves and began to work.

She mentioned the 10-Point Agenda as “Improved Welfare; Firm and agency visitation; Revival of the Branch’s Outdoor programme; improved relationship with the Public Sector; Advocacy and creation of awareness for estate surveying and valuation profession.”

Others were “To build partnerships with the corporate sector; improved membership base and mentoring of younger members, improved professional development; improved relationship with the NIESV National; deepening of Research & Development and the Data Project.”

According to the chairman, it gladdens the heart to note that, in the last 200 days, the Exco under her leadership has accomplished clear feats in virtually all the areas of the 10-Point Agenda

As part of its advocacy drive, the branch was recently in Abeokuta where they had a retreat in collaboration with their sister Branch in Ogun State to activate a closer relationship with the relevant agencies of governments in both states—Lagos and Ogun.

“Also, as part of our advocacy plans, the exco visited the site of the recent Ikoyi Building collapse to share in the pain of that huge tragedy and also to assert the existence and relevance of estate surveyors and valuers in the real estate sector as major experts and stakeholders,” the chairman recalled.

As an organic institution with eye on the future and growth of its young members, the branch within the period under review, also embarked on professional capacity building, believing that it is in the core existence of the institution.

It has therefore inaugurated a Resource Centre Advisory Committee to develop content, shape and form for the Resource Centre professional trainings. This is headed by Timothy Nubi, a professor, at Estate Management Department, University of Lagos, Akoka.

The Branch also successfully held its Mandatory Continuous Professional Development (MCPD) Programme in October 2021 with the theme, ‘Real Estate Outlook in the Present Dispensation.’

“As a capacity booster for our younger members, the Young and Passionate Estate Surveyors and Valuers (YPESV) of the Branch held its Mentoring Series on 21st October, 2021. The programme was virtual with the theme, ‘Networking in the 21st Century: A Tool for Maintaining Leads Generation in the Real Estate Market,” the chairman disclosed.