Estate surveyors’ land reform advocacy spurs govt’s consideration
The campaign for the reform of the land tenure system in Nigeria has been quite strident and at no time has it been much more vociferous than the last couple of years when estate surveyors under the aegis of Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) joined the fray with sustained advocacy that has spurred government’s consideration.
On the strength of this, the institution has been privileged, at many fora, to proffer solutions on the land reform issue during which it has advocated a holistic reform, believing that this reform holds immense potentials for the economic development of Nigeria.
Emeka Eleh, the immediate past president of the institution, who disclosed this in his valedictory address at their just concluded Annual General Conference in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, cited the stakeholders’ dialogue on Land Reform organized by the Presidential Technical Committee on Land Reforms and the Presidential Retreat on Housing as one of such fora.
Eleh, who listed this as one of the achievements of his tenure as president which ended with the conference at the weekend, said that connected to the land issue are housing and mortgage matters, disclosing that he was at the official launch of the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC).
According to him, this initiative that is government inspired but private sector driven is expected to impact immensely on the housing sector and should open more transaction avenues for their members as affordable mortgages become available.
In his keynote address at the conference, Jim Ovia, former CEO and co-founder of Zenith Bank Plc, highlighted the immense opportunities in maritime, coastal and inland waterways development, citing countries like Egypt, South Africa, Singapore and the US which rake billions of dollars annually as revenue from their investment in maritime-related activities.
From The Suez Canal which opened for business in 1869 after 10 years of forced labour and nationalized in 1956, Ovia said, Egypt earns $5 billion annually, representing 5 percent of its GDP, adding that 8 percent of the world sea-borne trade passes through the canal on average of 50 ships per day.
Ovia who spoke on the theme, ‘Maritime, Coastal and Inland Waters Investment and Management in National Development’ said that because it has developed its maritime, coastal and inland waterways, Singapore has made a success story of its ports.
“There are over 1,000 ships inside Singaporan port at any point of night or day; every 2-3 minutes, a ship arrives or leaves Singapore, and although Singapore does not produce any oil, it is the top bunkering port in the world such that in 2012, more than 42 million tonnes were lifted from the ports”, he said.
Continuing, he said, “there are more than 5,000 maritime establishments contributing about 7 percent to Singapore’s gross domestic product, and employing more than 170,000 personnel”, pointing out that the world’s biggest container ship, the Emma Maersk, arrived in Singapore on October 1, 2008, making its first maiden call to an Asian port and the vessel is able to carry 11,000 twenty-foot containers.
He noted that Nigeria has all the potential to be a regional hub for maritime related activities given its natural endowment in inland water transport (IWT) system which is over 10,000km of navigable waterways, rivers, creeks, lagoons and lakes and intra-coastal waters.
“River Niger is the longest river in West Africa, and 11th longest in the world”, he said, lamenting that in Lagos, a state with a population of over 21 million, only one percent of its 7 million commuters use water transportation when 70 percent of the state’s land mass is accessible by water.
Earlier in his opening remarks, President Goodluck Jonathan had said that the Federal Governments was committed to increased private sector participation in maritime infrastructure as part of efforts to establish the country as a regional port hub by 2043.
The president who was represented at the conference by Akon Eyakenyi, the minister of housing, lands and urban development, disclosed that the dredging of the lower river Niger from Warri, Delta State to Baro in Niger State, covering 572 kilometres had been completed with channels running through Warri, Onitsha, Agenebode, Idah, Jamata Lokoja and Baro and was aimed to facilitate year round navigation.
Chuka Uroko