Bature makes history at NIESV

History has been made in the annals of leadership of the “noble colleagues’ landed profession” following the emergence of ESV Mallam Bature Ali Muhammad, FNIVS as the 27th President of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV).

It is indeed a well-deserved position earned purely by merit, dint of hard work and astute professional excellence espoused over the years in his professional practice and through the rising trajectory of leadership in NIESV.

Interestingly, he hails from Kaduna State and is the first NIESV President of Northern origin in the 57 years history of the Institution. Founded in 1969, the Institution was granted government recognition by the enactment of the Estate Surveyors and Valuers (Registration Act) Decree No.24 of 1975.The first Annual Conference was held at Ibadan in 1969 with the man widely regarded as the father of the profession in Nigeria, John Wood Ekpeyong as the first president of NIESV.

The Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria (ESVARBON) is empowered to regulate and control the practice of the profession of Estate Surveying and Valuation in the country.

NIESV has since assumed a global image with affiliations to an impressive number

of land based, internationally renowned bodies. These include affiliations to the International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI), Commonwealth Association of Surveying and Land Economy (CASLE), International Federation of Surveyors (IFS), the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the International Valuation Standards Council (IVSC). In the country, the Institution is a member of the Association Professional Bodies of Nigeria (APBN).

Bature is an eminently qualified and immensely experienced Estate Surveyor and Valuer who boasts impressive academic and professional accomplishments garnered through the years. He is currently pursuing a PhD (in view) in Leadership and Strategic Studies at the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna. He had earlier obtained M.Phil in the same field, M.Tec in Estate Management and Valuation at ATBU, Bauchi and Master of Development Studies (MDS), NDA, Kaduna amongst other laurels in his degree bagging career.

Aside NIESV, he is an associate member of several professional bodies including National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (ANIMN), International Right of Way (IRWA), Certified Institute of Autioneers and the International Facility Management Association (IFMA).

Bature had earlier honed his management skills in various professional involvements and distinguished himself in several key roles and capacities as he ascended the ladder of leadership in NIESV, culminating in his rapid rise to the penultimate assignment as the 1st Vice President of NIESV which by a silent agreement adhered to over the years is the heir apparent to the Institution’s throne. Before then, he was Chairman of several key Committees of NIESV including the Corporate Affairs Committee which is the image maker of the Institution, Editorial Board of the Institution, Conference Planning Committee as well as the Fellowship and Associates Induction Committee which showed his versatility and the diversity of his professional disposition.

Bature runs a thriving professional practice as the Principal Consultant, Bature Mohammed & Co, based in Kaduna.

The new NIESV helmsman is stepping into the exalted Institution’s leadership office at a crucial moment of the Institution’s history, well equipped and prepared for the new role: An admixture of bountiful enthusiasm, that is perhaps, diffused with a little trepidation because of the barrage of deep seated issues awaiting his immediate attention at his new table. Which is quite natural for most new office holders. The positive thing is that he is already familiar with most of these issues and would have forged a solution template for them. The myriads of “familiar spirits” issues that beset the Institution is not exhaustive in this narrative but includes infiltration into estate agency by non-estate surveyors and valuers, advocacy for the Office of the Valuer General of the Federation and the incursions of engineers and other professionals into valuation that’s a core professional function of the estate surveyor and valuer.

Perhaps, the most worrisome is the limited recognition by the government at the various levels of certain roles and functions of estate surveyors and valuers. Recently, in January, the Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation officially inaugurated a 5-man Land Use and Allocation Committee comprising the Surveyor General of the Federation, three Land Surveyors and one quantity surveyor. The estate surveyor who is a key professional in the land procurement process was blatantly excluded.

Admittedly, estate surveying is still a relatively younger profession in Nigeria compared with he much older ones like Engineering, Law, Architecture and Medicine, to mention just a few. Many Nigerians, even amongst the elite class cannot tell the difference between the functions of an estate surveyor, land surveyor and quantity surveyor. Many don’t know what an estate surveyor does other than just being an estate agent. Indeed, in Nigeria’s pidgin parlance, some would simply say “surveyor na surveyor,“ but it is not so. Therefore, the Bature presidency has much to do to continue the enlightenment campaign until most educated Nigerians, not just those in the major cities, know what an estate surveyor and valuer does.

One ready handicap of the profession is the relatively few numbers of estate surveying professionals on the landscape compared with the older professions that are in hundreds of thousands and so wield much influence on government policies to favour their own professions.

Consequently, the Institution still lacks the political clout of having its members in key decision making positions in the various levers of government whether at the Federal, States or Local Government levels. There are not many estate surveyors in the system to champion the cause of the profession and to accord its pride of place in governmental affairs. For example, the Institution has never had a member who became the Minister of Works, Housing & Environment or even just Housing as a sole Ministry where the estate surveyors’ input would be impactful because of his specialist training. Certainly, no estate surveyor has been a president, probably none has been a governor in any state of the Federation. A few might have gained access to lesser political offices as deputy governors, political appointees and legislative roles. These factors count against the estate surveying profession in the allocation of resources and available professional opportunities in the system. The new NIESV President or his firm might even have been a victim of some of these prejudices that estate surveyors suffer in their daily practice. This is enough to spur him into action although it won’t happen overnight.

Bature would be up to a flying start in office with his clear mission statement that already outlined: professional development of members; digital transformation; ethics and government; membership growth; stakeholder partnership which entailed collaborating with the government, industry and international bodies; synergies with professionals for affordable housing; collaboration with branches for a united NIESV and seeking international partnerships for capacity building.

Hopefully, the Bature presidency would rise up quickly to galvanise the vibrancy to a profession long asking for a change in the entire polity to accommodate its treasured role in the system. With Bature, NIESV couldn’t ask for more.

.Ojenagbon is an estate surveyor and Valuer based in Lagos. Email address: [email protected]