A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Mike Ozekhome, has called on members of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), to always be professional in the course of discharging their duties to the society.
He also advised them to shun corrupt practices, warning that NIESV could be liable to legal actions if found culpable in doing their job, just like other professions.
Ozekhome spoke in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, while delivering a keynote address at the 52nd annual conference of the institution with the theme: ‘Cities of the Future: Development, Infrastructure and Sustainability’.
He said: “The problem of corruption can be seen in your organisation like it is in any other organisation. When you are doing your job, you are not immune to being sued, and your defence is not going to be that ‘I just valued the land’.
“Planning that has been given to you to estimate without a corresponding professional advice can lead to your personal culpability as an individual and a company.
“You can never be excluded from negligence. You will be held liable in an offence related to your profession. Even under the Advance Fee Fraud Act, the criminal code, there are areas where you would be held liable for malfeasance and bridge of trust.”
Earlier in his address, NIESV President, Sir Emma Okas Wike, has listed the failure to plan the city growth or failure to adhere to prescriptions and regulations, as one of the major drawbacks and cause of malfunctioning cities in Africa.
Wike also listed the refusal to pay close attention to land use management as prescribed in the city plan as another major cause.
He said: “Depending on how they are planned, managed and financed, cities play multi-faced roles in all societies. Cities are drivers of economic growth and at the same time, the breeding grounds of poverty, environmental hazards and communicable diseases among other ills.
“Most African cities, Nigeria inclusive are growing without corresponding economic transformation – they are largely unplanned; highly fragmented and disconnected; pantry investment in physical, social, economic infrastructure and services; and characterized by informal modes of social protection, infrastructure and service provision and dysfunctional municipal administration, to mention a few.
“A major drawback and cause of our malfunctioning cities is the failure to plan the city growth or failure to adhere to prescriptions and regulations and pay close attention to land use management as prescribed in the city plan.”
