PROPERTY NEWS

PRESIDENT of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Chief Emeka Onuorah, has faulted the country's reliance on the oil economy for its survival. He said Nigeria is a nation blessed with many resources but has unfortunately decided to exploit only one.

Onuorah said at a one day mandatory continuing professional development seminar organised by the Plateau State Branch of the Institution in collaboration with Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria (ESVARBON), that Nigeria's undoing is the complete reliance on oil, wondering what the country would fall back on if the oil well dries up.

The reliance on this sole source of revenue generation, oil, he added, has made the people of Nigeria lazy but that the time has come for professionals to champion revenue and tax collection in the country.

The theme of the seminar was "Improving Government Revenue through Landed Property Sources."

Chairman, Plateau State Branch of NIESV, Mr. Kingsley Odeh, said the theme of the mandatory continuing professional development programme had been specifically chosen to address the precarious state of revenue accruing to various tiers of government as a result of the global economic meltdown.

According to him, "our situation is even more pathetic due to our over-dependence on mono-economy, that is oil. This has resulted in the total neglect of other prolific sources of revenue such as agriculture, mining, landed property, taxation. However, it is gratifying to note that the day of reckoning has come for the various governments to look beyond the central revenue allocation for survival. As a result, different policies are being pursued daily with a view to improving their internally generated revenue".

Plateau State Commissioner for Finance and Economic Planning, Mrs. Clara Gang, said the seminar dovetails into Governor Jonah Jang's 10-point agenda, particularly issues that concern internal revenue generation. She assured the organisers of government's commitment in the redemption philosophy it has embarked upon.

Gang implored the participants to sincerely brainstorm on ways that will proffer solutions to improving revenue sources through landed property and capture values that will project the state positively.

Chairman, Plateau State Board of Internal Revenue, Dr. Rauta Jat, attributed the present economic recession in the country to youth restiveness in the Niger Delta and the dwindling revenue sources such as petroleum from the federation account allocation occasioned by the crisis in the international market.

Jat noted that there was widespread fraudulent practices by clients, touts posing as estate agents who draft conveyances and state considerations very low in order to attract very low stamp duties.

According to her, "to check this fraudulent practice, it is advisable to adopt the present practice in England where revenue authorities accept two or more independent valuations and average in order to determine the open market value of property".