By
Mon Apr 19 2021
The national conference of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) for 2020/2021 will hold in June following postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Conference Committee Chairman, Esv. Kenechukwu Onuora, made the revelation recently at the unfolding of the 2020/2021 Annual National Conference Logo for the event expected to come up June 24-26, 2021.
The President of NIESV, Esv. Emmanuel Wike, at the event, said COVID-19 affected the estate surveying profession due to lack of building materials and members could not conduct valuation as well as collect rent from properties being managed.
One of the positive aspects of the pandemic, he added, is that it has brought the new normal which has made it possible for estate surveyors to develop new ICT applications to carry out their assignments.
By Fadekemi Ajakaiye
The Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) has said that sustained investment in the real estate sector would revamp the nation’s economy.
The President and Chairman, National Council of NIESV, Chief Emmanuel Wike, who stated this at a press conference in Lagos recently, noted that Nigeria is going in and out of recession because of its dependence on crude oil as its major source of earnings.
Wike stated that Nigeria’s economy, being “highly dependent on crude oil, which accounts for more than 83% of the country’s total export earnings, according to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), is highly vulnerable to fluctuations in crude oil prices and production. The economy as a result has been periodically or intractably challenged, slipping in and out of recession.”
Emmanuel Okas Wike, NIESV President
As businesses begin to emerge from the COVID-19 crisis, many of those whose operations were significantly impaired are facing rent defaults, which piled up while they were temporarily closed.
Similarly, residential tenants in the highbrow and high-density areas that suffered setback in their businesses or got laid-off by their employees are also having hard times in paying their rents. Artisans and self-employed individuals are also affected.
These have prompted property owners to make hard choices on the type of tenants to be assigned their property by adopting diligent standards. Some of the landlords have to deal with their own mortgage obligations and defaults, which similarly accrued during the pandemic.