70% of Nigerian properties lack legal titles — Surveyors

The National Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, Lagos State Branch, has stated that about 60–70 per cent of landed properties in Nigeria do not have title documents.

The Chairman of the chapter, Tosin Kadiri, disclosed this on Tuesday in Lagos while speaking during a press conference/road walk to mark this year’s Valuation Day themed ‘Unlocking Nigeria’s wealth: How valuation builds our prosperity’.

While stressing that a lot of properties in Nigeria are locked in the informal sector, Kadiri added that an untitled property cannot be used for investment purposes.

“When you say a lot of properties are locked in informal markets, we all know that a lot of properties in Nigeria, as much as I can say, maybe almost 70 per cent of properties in Nigeria are untitled. And when a property is untitled, technically, you have lost the potential of that particular property because you cannot use the property for any investment purpose, you cannot use the property for compensation purposes, and you cannot use the property to access a mortgage. If you want to expand your business, you want to be able to access funds. One of the things that you can actually present to the bank is to use your property or assets as collateral.

And a property that is not titled definitely is an asset, and the potential of that particular property has been locked. So, you can’t use it,” Kadiri said.

According to him, a lot of people actually put values on properties based on rumour, not on professional value-adding, so that two buildings of the same size in the same location may have different values.

He reiterated that the NIESV has been specially trained in various aspects of valuation, ranging from asset valuation to property valuation, among others.

Kadiri lamented the proliferation of non-members of NIESV doing the job of its members, stressing that in tackling these challenges, the association has embarked on advocacy to educate the general public on the need to engage professional valuers.

“So, in addressing these challenges, advocacy is one of the key things because the public needs to be aware of who to engage when it comes to valuation. And also, to address those challenges, we are engaging government agencies too. We have been engaging various government agencies in making sure that they engage professionals at every level in terms of valuation, both at the federal and state levels,” he stated.

Also speaking, the immediate past Chairman of Lagos State Branch of NIESV, Olugbenga Ismail, described estate valuers as a measuring tool that gives information about what is and what is not.

He added that the group could assist the government in quantifying its assets, noting that the government may not even know the exact value of its assets.

“The government is unable to quantify the assets they have. They may not even know what they are actually spending. So, valuation is able to direct the viability of assets. So, the valuation reduces any conflict at any point in time. Once you have a valuation report done by a competent person, it will help the government solve the issue,” he said.