Nigeria’s N33trn Asset Value Gap Raises Revenue, Taxation Concerns—ESVARBON

The revelation came as valuation experts warned that the failure to properly establish the worth of public and private assets could undermine government revenue mobilisation, taxation, insurance compensation and effective management of the nation’s wealth.

The experts spoke on Thursday in Abuja at the 2026 Valuers Assembly, organised by ESVARBON, where they advocated stronger integration of professional valuers into government planning and economic management.

Acting chairman of the ESVARBON Board, Dr Aminu Waziri, said the estimated N33 trillion loss highlighted the economic consequences of failing to apply professional valuation principles to the country’s assets.

Waziri also linked the valuation challenge to Nigeria’s housing crisis, putting the nation’s housing deficit at more than 21 million units.

He said public institutions could make significant progress in closing the asset-value gap by properly valuing and documenting their assets in line with the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) framework.

“With the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) being part of the Nigerian developmental pathway, all the parastatals, departments and agencies that are supposed to be valuing and documenting our assets need to key into this,” he said.

According to him, consistent application of valuation and documentation standards across government institutions would strengthen public-sector asset management and provide a clearer picture of the country’s actual wealth.

A former Chairman of the Education Committee of ESVARBON and Board Member of the International Valuation Standards Council, Dr. ESV. Uche Egwuatu, said Nigeria could improve its revenue base by deploying the expertise of professional valuers in real estate taxation.

Egwuatu argued that estate surveyors and valuers possess the professional training required to establish the value of assets and should therefore play a more prominent role in determining the taxable value of properties.

He said the profession had remained underutilised despite the growing need for accurate information on the value of Nigeria’s assets.

“We have the scale, but for one reason or the other, the government is not really giving us much attention,” he said.

He urged government to engage professional valuers in asset valuation, portfolio management and the development of policies governing the country’s property market.

Egwuatu said accurate valuation was particularly important as the government seeks to expand its tax base and improve the country’s tax-to-GDP ratio.

He listed property tax, capital gains tax, capital transfer tax and estate duties among revenue areas that depend heavily on reliable property valuation.

According to him, where the value of a property is not properly established, tax assessments could become arbitrary, creating room for inconsistencies while depriving government of potential revenue.

“If they don’t know the value, the rate they will charge will be very subjective, based on whatever the officials decide by themselves,” he said.

He added that inadequate valuation meant government was effectively “short-changing itself” in the collection of property-related revenues.

Waziri also drew attention to the implications of inaccurate property valuation for the insurance industry.

He explained that where properties were not appropriately valued before being insured, policyholders could face inadequate compensation when losses occurred.

Proper valuation, he said, would enable insurers to establish appropriate indemnity levels and ensure that claims were settled on the basis of professionally determined asset values.

He also cautioned against simply describing an asset as undervalued without first carrying out a professional valuation.

According to him, valuation remains the fundamental process for determining the actual worth of an asset.

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The assembly also examined emerging challenges in the valuation of intangible assets, with a presentation by Edwina Tam of Kroll focusing on the application of International Valuation Standards (IVS 210).

The presentation noted that intangible assets differ from physical assets because they often have no physical substance, may lack comparable market evidence and derive their value largely from legal or contractual rights.

It identified the asset, market and income approaches as major valuation approaches and examined methodologies including relief-from-royalty, multi-period excess earnings and with-and-without methods.

The presentation further stressed that technological advancement would not eliminate the need for professional judgement in valuation.

Instead, it identified artificial intelligence and automation, data analytics, industry expertise, global valuation standards, continuous professional development and professional scepticism as increasingly important to the future of the profession.

The discussions at the assembly ultimately underscored the growing importance of reliable asset valuation to Nigeria’s efforts to strengthen public-sector accounting, broaden its tax base, improve insurance protection, manage national assets and properly account for the wealth embedded in its property and other assets.