Business competence, others identified as prerequisites for success in estate surveying

A university don, Bioye Aluko, has identified business, technical and cognitive competencies as essential ingredients for a successful career in estate surveying and valuation profession.

Aluko, a professor and dean, Faculty of Environmental Design and Management at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, gave this hint at an induction ceremony for new associate members of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), adding that communication and time management skills plus ethical and professional competence are also required to achieve an accomplished consulting practice.

The professor, whose views were contained in a paper titled ‘Estate Surveying and Valuation Profession in Nigeria: Unbundling Latent Competencies and Developing New Frontiers’ which he presented at the ceremony held in Abuja, urged the 242 new inductees to uphold the best professional ethics and standards in order to make a successful career in their chosen field.

Defining estate surveying and valuation competence as the application of theoretical knowledge to carry out estate surveying and valuation projects, Aluko told the inductees that by their admission into associate membership of the institution, “It is a signal to employers that you are ready for employment being technically competent and commercially aware”.

He commended the leadership of NIESV under Emeka Eleh for their emphasis on capacity building through continuous and mandatory development programmes, stressing that “training is the key to professional development and this is one area the leadership of NIESV has excelled because the quality of programmes and the resource persons are such that the junior members cannot easily afford outside”.