Why we asked for Office of the Valuer-General of the federation—Ukpong, NIESV boss
The Chairman of Lagos State Chapter of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Mr. Offiong Ukpong has given fresh insights on why the professional body came up with the need for the creation of the Office of the Valuer General of the Federation.
According to him, considering the fact that the global public sector financial accounting standard had made it mandatory for all government assets to be valued annually, it therefore become very imperative that the office be created so that it will serve as the nation’s valued asset clearing house.
Ukpong argued that whereas the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and other anti-graft agencies had the mandate for people to declare their assets, they lacked experts to certify the declarations, stressing that only the Office of the Valuer General can perform such sensitive jobs.
According to him, “The government needs to establish the office of a valuer-general; the asset declaration of the government through the Code of Conduct Bureau should involve an estate surveyor and valuer for verification. What is the basis of ascribing values to assets without the contributions of estate surveyors and valuers as critical land economists? We need someone who advises government on land economy.
“Government cannot complete a real estate transaction without the input of the estate surveyor. Let us create the office of the valuer-general, so that he/she will be the custodian of information about what is happening in real estate and assets management.”
Industry analysts say such Office when created will do the job of valuing all government assets and declaring their worth on a yearly basis to that government will be able to know when the market values of its moribund and abandoned enterprises or even buildings are losing their values.
Today, survey by Business Hilights on abandoned federal government’s buildings and enterprises just in Lagos and Island in particular are mind boggling.
