NIESV 53rd Annual Conference:  Property Valuers Gather In Ilorin To Discuss Strategies For Winning Fight Against Corruption In Africa

 Having an effective financial disclosure system in place will help greatly to tackle corruption in Nigeria and Africa as a whole as this will make detection, investigation and prosecution of corrupt public officials easy.

Absence of an effective disclosure system has made some government officials overtly richer than most people in business and this has made corruption rampant in Africa.

An estate surveyor and valuer, Mallam Bature Ali Muhammad, said this during the programme held on the Day 3 of the ongoing 53rd Annual Conference of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, NIESV, in Ilorin, Kwara state capital, on Wednesday.

Team@orientactualmags.com  learned that the 53rd Annual Conference which began on June 19, will end on June 24.

Bature is the 2nd Vice President of the  NIESV and  he spoke on ‘Asset Valuation As A Global Anti-Corruption Tool :The Nigeria Experience’ at the event that was held at the Banquet Hall, opposite Government House, Ilorin.

Bature, who was the Lead  Paper Presenter, also said ‘most of Africa’s anti-corruption strategies’ have been proven to be wholly inadequate while noting that importance of an effective financial disclosure system and valuation had been unfortunately downplayed in African countries.

‘Of greater concern is that 20 of the African World Bank client countries do not require public officials to disclose their income and assets.  This indifference by African States towards corruption necessitates an investigation of the role of assets declaration in the fight against corruption.

 As a tool against corruption, asset declaration plays a dual function.  It also plays a preventive function of helping to anticipate and resolve potential conflicts of interest. Moreover, it plays an investigative function by providing valuable information vital to uncovering gross misconduct and illicit enrichment by public officials.

 In most cases, assets declaration illustrates irregularities between the actual assets of the public officials and their salaries. Asset declaration can be achieved adequately through valuation techniques. Therefore, valuation as a tool in addressing corruption is the use of economic and financial analysis to assess the value of a project or asset to help identify and prevent corrupt activities.

This tool can be used to detect irregularities in pricing and bidding processes, identify misappropriation of funds, identify fraudulent activities, and assess the impact of corruption on economic development. By using valuation techniques, governments, businesses, and other stakeholders can identify and mitigate the risks associated with corruption and improve their decision-making processes. A valuation can also be used to assess the financial impact of corrupt activities and to identify potential sources of illegal funds. A valuation can equally be used to identify areas of potential losses due to corrupt activities and to develop strategies to reduce the risk of corruption. In addition, valuation can be used to strengthen the effectiveness of anti-corruption initiatives and monitor their progress’ he said.

While noting that corruption involves all forms of anti-social behaviors that negate the ideal moral standards acceptable in society, he also listed forms of corruption prevalent in Nigeria to include;  political corruption, bureaucratic corruption, electoral corruption, bribery, fraud ,  embezzlement ,extortion ,favoritism , and nepotism.

Bature ,who submitted that administrative  anti-corruption efforts that began in the country in 1999, and had led to the establishment of  the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offenses Commission (ICPC), had though recorded some successes but had since faced hindrances that include   funding issues with regard to their projects, limited jurisdictional power and slow dispensation of justice.

He also noted that money laundering can be tackled through professionalism submitting that lack of market transparency in the Nigerian real estate market has become one of the loopholes that money launderers do exploit.

A transparent real estate market must according to him have features that  include; standardized property rights and market practice , free flow of market information , market openness , and existence of sophisticated property profession with associated institutions and networks.

 ‘Real estate professionals especially the Estate Surveyor and Valuers must therefore make frantic efforts to move Nigeria’s real estate market from its opaque stage to a well-integrated market. This will go a long way in curbing the lingering menace of money laundering in the country. For example, there is a need to develop a new valuation and estate agency reporting standards which is the case in several developed countries in the world. These will require that a centralized valuation record system is updated after a new valuation is conducted, and property letting and sales transactions/ records are also kept and updated after every new transaction is completed.  The success of the UK land registry system has shown that a better record system can enhance market transparency’ he added.

He noted however that this can only be achieved under cashless real estate transactions.

Policies and programmes including  Federal Character, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Unity secondary schools, 16 National sports, National symbols, Festivals, National ethical re-orientation, War Against Indiscipline (WAI), Directorate of Social Administration, Self-Reliance, Economic Recovery and Social Justice (MAMSER), National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS), Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria and N-Power Programme which were created  purposely to achieve  value orientation and national integration had according to him  ‘failed partially or totally’ because of corruption.

Bature has also proposed what he called ‘common basic elements of anti-corruption strategies’.

‘Specific needs will vary from country to country but experience suggests that the elements listed below must be addressed as a priority before significant progress can be achieved; effective rule-of-law structures, including judicial and legislative elements, are needed at an early stage. A professional, unbiased, and independent judiciary is critical to the development and implementation of law enforcement and criminal justice measures; it is also necessary for areas such as the making and enforcement of legal contracts and the use of civil litigation as a means of identifying, exposing and obtaining redress for  corrupt practices. Also required is an open and a transparent legislature that formulates policy, creates laws in the public interest, and provides a role model for other institutions.

 There must be transparency in public communications and mechanisms to give the public broad, straightforward, and timely access to information. Government cannot begin to achieve credibility unless the public understands what it is doing.  A professional, politically- neutral, and uncorrupted public service is one of the fundamental objectives of anti-corruption strategies. Establishing professionalism and neutrality will require a combination of legal standards and cultural reforms.

The public service should be encouraged to adopt high standards of professionalism and integrity, and the general population should be encouraged to expect those high standards and take action when they are not met.  Strong and independent elements are needed in several aspects of civil society. The most important of these is a free, clean, and independent media that disseminate important public information and provides criticism and commentary that is independent of political and public service influences. Free media can identify and expose corruption or other improper practices in Government; it can also validate Government measures that are neither corrupt nor improper.

 Periodic assessment of corruption and the effectiveness of anti-corruption strategies, as well as the flexibility to adjust strategies to take account of assessments, are also important. Experience has shown that efforts to combat corruption often have unforeseen consequences, for example, displacement effects. Displacement, where action against corruption in one sector effectively displaces it into other areas, should be identified quickly and the strategy adjusted to incorporate effective countermeasures. Assessment and adjustment also entail identifying and replicating measures that have proved successful’ he said.

Two other renowned property valuers ; Dr Sopon  Pornchokchai  and Mr. Peter Bolton King  , also gave virtual speeches from Thailand and the United Kingdom respectively.

 Dr Sopon  Pornchokchai,  a property valuer and real estate researcher in the ASEAN Region, Africa and South America, emphasized the important role that ombudsmen men play in monitoring and ensuring transparent process, noting that valuation firms should be independent of their clients to ensure that desired objectives are achieved while also emphasizing the need to scrutinize sources of information.

President and Chairman of the Council, Johnbull Amayaevbo, Chairman,  Kwara state chapter,  Oyedepo Olalekan, National Publicity Secretary,   Toyin Aluko , and former   Kwara state Commissioner for Tertiary Education ,  Alabi Afees Abolore were among dignitaries that attended the event -Team@orientactualmags.com
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