Date: 2018-06-19

Estate Surveyors and Valuers under the umbrella of the Nigerian Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Kwara branch, have called on the state government to patronise local firms in order to boost economic activities in the state.

The state Chairman of the association, Mr Lanre Hassan, made the call in an interview with newsmen in Ilorin on Monday.

Hassan decried the institution's non-patronage by the State government, adding that this had been one of its major challenges.

"Our major challenge operating in Kwara is that the state government does not patronise us.

"They prefer to patronise the charlatans and quacks who will under-value the properties and at the end of the day, such properties are not able to stand the test of time.

"In our profession, we have statutory jobs and non-statutory jobs; one of the things we do in our statutory duties is to bring the government to our confines but there has been some resistance.

"Look at the tenement rate, the law says you should value the property before collecting tax, but the government is not acting in line with the law.

"As law-abiding professionals, we do not want to be confrontational but this is posing a big challenge to our operations.

"We want government patronage so that we can contribute our human resources to both the physical and economic development of the state," he said.

The chairman warned quacks in the profession to desist from valuation of property, adding that anyone caught would be made to face the wrath of the law.

NAN