What Harm or Injury could comes to the body of Estate surveyors If The Bill to Establish the Chartered Institute Of Facility Management in Nigeria is Passed.

To The Honourable Senate committee on the public hearing of the Bill seeking to establish the Chartered Institute Of Facility Management in Nigeria

If this bill is passed this is what is going to happen


Facility management is an aspect of estate surveying that is already in practice,  their functions are already being regulated by the Estate surveying board of Nigeria and it is expected that everyone practicing facility management should come under the existing laws that has already  established Estate surveying.

Property management comprises of facility management..It is just a nomenclature.  Property management entails managing  buildings in it entirety  which includes the facilities provided in it,  managing the occupants of the building, achieving the best use and financial returns on the property and other things relating to the property.

All these functions and much more are already being regulated by the board. Why make another regulatory body?

Dear senators, you were elected to make policies that will positively reflect and affect the people why promote strive and unhealthy competition among your people .  Let things be done appropriately and orderly.

Are you now saying that in one building, we will have an estate surveyor as the property expert to manage the building and it occupants while the facility manager manages the few facilities in that same building? Both professions being regulated separately?

Let me give an example of what happened recently.

An Estate surveyor was managing a government agency building in Abuja. Because he is trained in managing both the building, people and facilities,  things were running smoothly until a new DG was appointed who quickly  (for whatever reason) terminated the management  contract of the Estate Surveyor and appointed a ' facility manager' - pardon me sir, most of these people who claim to be facility managers have little or no training as to what to do.  They are just contracted  to oversee the activites of the outsourced jobs. E.g cleaners, plumbers , electricians etc.

What this  new DG did was to appoint a facility managers to manage the facilities in the complex such as maintainance of the  generator,  the lift, cleaning of the complex and it's surroundings, maintenance of all electrical  installation  etc. They  got a security company to handle the security aspect of the complex separately  and that was it. Who will  manage the occupants?  Who will determine the rent of the property?  Who will conducts the periodic rental valuation and the general maintainance and renovation  of the property? The claimed facility managers is  a total novice, ignorant,  a quack in these areas because he/she does not have the foundational requirement to handle such task.

Suddenly, occupants that were used to first class service were left in the middle of no where, they see themselves reaching out to the former managers to complain.   The Estate suveryor is trained on how to calculate service charge and manage a seperate account for it. He utilize the service charge adequately and  perfectly handled all the statutory regulators without allowing them disrupt the official activites in the complex, therefore, when they were asked to leave, they left with this outstanding service delivery.  The newly appointed facility manager with a big portfolio but lack the necessary ingredient for effective management and service delivery cannot give what they do not have and  the resultant effect was chaos and confusion so much so that the occupants began to make demands that the Estate surveyor be brought back, because if it's not broken, don't fix it.

The government agency became perplexed and reached out to the estate surveying firm to come and consult and report to the facility managers and the answer they got was capital NO!

Do you know why sir?

The estate surveyor cannot report to a facility manager who has no foundation, he is just a business man trying to hustle.  An estate surveyor is established by the law of the land which has  empowered  him to do this job and much more, therefore, he cannot be subjected to a regulatory body of Quacks 

Sir, this is almost the same thing all over Nigeria especially in Abuja.  Just because some persons have connections to people in position of authority they want to rewrite an existing laws. We must reject this for the betterment of Nigeria professionals otherwise we are not only duplicating but creating confusion among Nigerians.

I plead with this Honourable committee not make the mistake of creating confusion among our professions and confused the good people of Nigeria. 

Facility management  association is already in existence all over the world and will continue to exist  but No new regulatory body should be created  for this purpose. 

Rather than seek to create another regulatory body let this Honourable committee seek to strengthen the already existing body of Estate surveyors  to  widen its courage and roll out stipulations required for persons wishing and desiring to be called facility managers, thereby regulating their activites and ensuring that their work is in conformity with world best practices. Of a truth, several professions and nomenclature will materialise in the future and we can't keep granting wild wishes rather, if it's possible the government could established the Nigeria body of  professionals which will be mandated to not only monitor, implement and ensure that professionalism is strengthened in Nigeria. I pray that this committee get this right.

Mr Chairman,  we must begin the process of strengthening our institutions and promoting professionalism.  The Estate surveyors have the sole mandate to ascribe  value and worth to properties and assets,  but what do we have in practice especially among the elites and government agencies.  Assets declaration are without the stamp and seal of a registered valuer and it submitted to code of conduct which  accepts it as an authentic  document upon which legal backing is administered .  The law has empowered the Valuer  to ascribe worth and value to assets  ( land and buildings,  motor vehicle,  equipment and other valuables),  that is the global practice, but in Nigeria things are done upside down. You sit down in your cute comfortable office and ascribe values to your assets  without a valuation report from a registered estate surveyor and valuer and then it's accepted by code of conduct, it's a shame on our agencies. Where is the professionalism, where will Nigeria be in terms of professionalism in the next 20 years if we do not encourage professionalism?


EFCC and other crime commissions  are quick to role out figures without proper valuation from a reputable Estate surveyor,  they make a few calls and walla a value is announced.  This has led to false and fake values and standard of living.  We have false cities, with false value giving rise to false lifestyle and creating unrealistic cost of living.  Abuja is fast becoming the most expensive city with almost nothing to offer its inhabitants than false and fake lifestyle. These abnormalities must be corrected immediately,  We create and lobby for bills that are so unnecessary instead of creating ways to monitor,  implement, enforce and strengthen the existing laws.


It is expected that the individual at the herm of affairs, heading estate units and departments in government ministries and agencies and other organisations  should be a persons with  the background knowledge,  academic qualifications,  professional qualification  in real Estate related fields to handle such portfolio, but what do we have today? We have people fixing relations, friends in positions of authority to head the built environment departments or whatever title  they ascribe to such position. A quack is nominated, appointed or promoted to do the work of a chartered Estate Surveyor !  A person of no background and  no professional qualifications in this field,  because of such lapses that is why a group of people managing outsourced jobs are asking to be registered and given regulatory powers.  If a professional Estate Surveyor  or a professional in similar field is rightly appointed in such position,  he or she would have educated his principal on the required qualifications of job seekers and where their limitations lies.

The law has established this body of Estate surveying and valuing,  therefore,  the right thing should be done. A round peg in a round hole!

Henceforth,  we should ensure that organisations put the right people with the right qualification in places of authority.  You don't install a quack and expect a professional to report to him, to do all the work while he takes the glory. That is not only an abuse of professionalism  but also a malpractice. It is corruption,   a total abuse sir!  You can't have a business administrator  head a position meant for a real estate professional and expect him to deliver the right and perfect result.  No. He will only handle it as a business and that is what we have today.  The job of Estate surveyors are advised to be bidded for by any contractor, then they give the awardee a tip- " go and get an estate surveyor to join your team,  enlist him and give him something " and honestly because of hunger  surveyor also comprise,  they  will agree and even stamp and seal their documents, receiving peanut as professional fee - meanwhile,  this ought to be his job 100%.
It's sickening and repulsive.

Our laws are made but only on administrative level,  there is no enforcement,  there is no monitoring, there is no proper implementation to the latter. There is a collective disregard  or disrespect for the laws.

If this Bill is passed,  it will only expand the already unhealthy competition existing among  the profession, we should rather  seek to strengthen relationships.

I plead again with this committee to   strength and finetune the existing laws  that has established  Estate surveyors & valuers board of Nigeria to expand its already existing regulatory duties to individuals seeking to practice only the management of facilities. Government must find a way to check mate the activites of all the professions existing and hope to exist in future.


What is the role of the government in ensuring that professionalism is strengthened and promoted in Nigeria that  people will desire and aspire to seek and  gain deeper knowledge thereby  specialising in their chosen area of interest today?

Sadly, our professionals are running out of Nigerian to a more organised society where they will be appreciated and have a fair environment to practice. We hope that this Honourable committee will  not create confusion in an already battered system. Passing this bill will create confusion and chaos.  Are you expecting that in a single  building, the estate surveyor who is already empowered by law to manage the  entire building and it's occupants,  are we saying that he will manage just only  the building and its occupants while another person with the tag facility manager  will  manage the facilities in the same building? supervising the outsourced jobs?  Are we dividing things are trying to strengthen them? The Estate surveyors is a professional property manager that manages everything in a building.  Except this committee is today seeking to expunge some of these responsibility that the law has given to the Estate surveying board  with regards to property management, but unfortunately that will be against the world practice as it one of the key courses of the discipline.

One of the facility management modules  is property management which an Estate surveyor and valuer had already been taught in the university.  The Estate surveyors is grounded, rooted and prepared for this job, unlike a ' facility manager ' who just put people together to do a job. It's as simple as that.  Yes he runs some few modules to give him a little background knowledge but it's that enough to pass such into law?

Facility managers is multi-discipline profession not limited to the built environment field. It Just a man overseeing the working of different aspect  of a building with help from specialist or handymen; overseeing and engaging them to create the perfect workings of facilities in a building.

Whereby an individual with his connections was able to secure himself a job to manage the facilities in a building complex alone, then he should be regulated by the already existing laws which is the Estate surveying board, he should be expected to  present a licence approved by the board and also that of the international association which will prove that he has the required knowledge expected to handle such responsibility .

We must be careful on the precedent that we set because of tomorrow, the world is going digital and I bet you soon another profession  or a nomenclature will be thrown up and a group of people will gang together after much lobbying  and buying off some individuals will hoodwink the Senate into passing a bill into law to their favour and at the end of the day what do we have; chaos and confusion.

Revert back to the example I gave earlier of the possible negative effect of passing this law.
Some person have long leg to penetrate 'business men' heading departments to secure facility management jobs for themselves therefore, they believe they have arrived and can take over,   things are not done like that.
The estate surveying board have laws,  rules and regulations for practice and this rules should guide the facility management practice in Nigeria.

This Senate should go a step further to strengthen and expand the already existing laws that has established the Estate surveying board to accommodate the upcoming areas of the built environment and persons wishing to specialise in doing just an aspect of the larger chunk.

Our laws should be able to encourage us not confuse us
Our laws should be able to bring orderliness not confusion and chaos
Our laws should be able to encourage professionalism not quackery
Our laws should stand up and be counted among other nations
Things should be done properly

Nigerian should not be a dumping ground where things that are not acceptable elsewhere will be done here for some selfish desires.  We often build people not institutions,  that is why we have several agencies basically doing the same thing - wastage all over the country.

Let's do things different and rightly with this one.

ESV Ngozi Ohaeto.