The Association of Private Practising Surveyors of Nigeria, Lagos branch, has called for increased patronage of surveying professionals for sustainable development in the country.
The Chairman, APPSN, Lagos branch, Mr. Olufemi Odetunmibi, said at the body’s 2017 annual workshop that people needed to engage the services of surveyors more in the course of their property development.
“People are utilising our services well but it can be better. Any major development should have a surveyor; people who short-circuit developments have themselves to blame at later dates,” he stated.
Odetunmibi said surveying and surveyors, especially those in private practice, had contributed a lot to economic growth by ensuring that proper foundation was always laid.
He stated, “Anytime you see any infrastructural decay, find out if any registered surveyor is involved; most times, you find that our people are not fully involved in the foundation and we are asking that this should change.
“If we are looking for sustainable development, then the people who have the technical capability to do that should be carried along from the beginning. Even when it is completed, we should be carried along to ensure that it is sustained and not developed and left unattended to.”
He added that the recent review of surveyors’ fees was to ensure that they rendered proper services to clients, saying that “when the fee is not right, you can be sure that the service will not be right.”
Odetunmibi said the topic of the workshop, ‘Corporate business ethics: Repositioning surveying as an enterprise’, was chosen to encourage members of the association to be alive to their responsibilities.
He added, “Our members should have the mind-set that they must play or practice the profession within the ambit of the corporate profession. That will not increase our fees, but will allow the public to have value for their money.
“Land administration will remain ever important in the scheme of things. The global approach should be closely monitored so that we can be active players in the way things should go. It is clearly evident that events of today place greater responsibilities on us private practitioners to reposition the practice of surveying.”
The guest lecturer and Managing Partner of Sanya Alabi and Co., Mr. Julius Olusanya, urged members of the association to add value to their services so as to give back to the society.
“In business, you are potentially managing men, money and materials to achieve a purpose. You can either add value as an individual by giving back to the society through providing job opportunities to others, or you just make profit,” he said.
The Chairman, Nigerian Institution of Surveyors, Lagos branch, Mr. Gbenga Alara, said the workshop would help the professionals to reposition surveying through a new mind-set.
Source: https://punchng.com/appsn-calls-for-increased-patronage-of-surveyors/