By Jude Njoku

BARELY one month after his inauguration as the Chairman of the Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria, ESVARBON, Elder William Oruka Odudu presided over the induction of 113 newly registered estate surveyors and valuers, vowing to use everything at his disposal to fight quackery in the profession. He also pledged to double the numerical strength of registered estate surveyors and valuers in the country before the expiration of his tenure in 2016.

Elder Odudu explained that with the induction of the new entrants, the total number of registered estate surveyors in the country has risen from 3,119 to 3,232.

Reeling out his seven-point agenda, Odudu who took over as ESVARBON chairman from Mr. Ayodele Sangosanya, said he will put in place measures to accelerate the registration of new entrants into the profession to meet the needs of a rapidly growing Nigerian population. He hopes that by 2016, the population of registered estate surveyors would have risen to 6,000.

Major challenges

Odudu who vowed to intensify the war against quacks especially in estate agency, enjoined those wishing to practise as estate agents to register with the newly registered Association of Estate Agents of Nigeria.

“One of my major challenges is to reduce the nefarious activities of quacks by registering more estate surveyors and valuers. We have put in place the machinery with law enforcement agents to check pseudo practice and deal with offenders. My focus is to battle quacks to a standstill; we have already instituted court actions against some offenders,” he said.

He promised to produce before the end of this year, a printed register of members of ESVARBON. The register, he said, would be launched before October 2014.

Odudu also promised to pursue the accreditation and re-accreditation of tertiary institutions offering Estate Management; improve the professional standard of estate surveyors in practice through regular workshops and training programmes in collaboration with the NIESV Learning Centre and develop ESVARBON offices in Abuja and Lagos. He disclosed that already, two ad-hoc committees have been set up to secure land allocation in the two cities.

Turning to the inductees, Elder Odudu told them that the stamps, seals and certificates given to them, are properties of ESVARBON which reserves the right to withdraw them, if their use is abused. Referring to the seal and stamp as a money minting machine, he declared: “If the machine is misused, it will start producing counterfeits”. The ESVARBON chairman charged the inductees to abide by the rules and regulations guiding their professional practice. The former Chairman of  the defunct Cooperative Bank described integrity as the hallmark of any professional and should therefore be jealously guarded with the fear of God.

Giving the charge to the new surveyors, one of the profession’s leading lights, Pa  Idahosa Joseph Ojo-Osagie admonished them to acquire nobility through hard work and integrity. “Nobility is not acquired on the streets,” he said, and advised the inductees to always ensure that clients accounts are kept separately. “Don’t be tempted to dip your hands into your client’s account,” he said.

Pa Ojo-Osagie advised the ESVARBON to ensure that it does not in a bid to increase membership, lower the standard for new entrants.

The second Vice President of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, NIESV, Dr Ajayi Patunola who stood in for the President, Mr. Emeka Eleh, pledged to collaborate with the Board in its membership drive and the fight against pseudo practices.