AS Nigeria prepares for sweeping legal and financial reforms, estate surveyors and valuers are being urged to reinvent their practice, expand their technical competencies and position themselves for opportunities emerging from tax restructuring and large-scale infrastructure development.

This call to action dominated discussions at this year’s Mandatory Continuing Professional Development (MCPD) forum of the Lagos branch of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), where experts warned that the profession must evolve beyond traditional agency roles to remain relevant in a transforming economy.

For the former chairman of the NIESV Lagos branch, Rogba Orimalade, the profession is standing at a defining moment. Delivering the keynote address, he argued that estate surveyors must now integrate skills in infrastructure economics, PPP structuring, feasibility studies, asset optimisation, and digital valuation systems.

“Estate surveyors must play a role beyond conventional agency practice,” Orimalade said. “Nigeria’s strategic national corridors are emerging as engines of trade, logistics and industrial growth, and these require comprehensive advisory services from valuation and land-use assessment to environmental and impact analysis.”

He pointed to emerging opportunities along key economic corridors such as the Badagry–Sokoto trade route, the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Road, the Lekki–Epe–Ibeju Free Trade Zone and port ecosystem, and new deep-sea port and industrial developments in Ondo and Ogun states.

According to him, practitioners who build capacity in feasibility, logistics planning, and corridor development advisory will command higher value in the years ahead.
Orimalade also stressed the need to embrace PropTech, noting that digital tools are reshaping valuation accuracy, turnaround times and facility management.
He advised NIESV to revive its infrastructure faculty, launch a proptech incubation programme and deepen engagement with policymakers, including tax authorities and economic reform committees.

One of the most anticipated shifts for the industry is Nigeria’s new tax reform set to take effect in January 2026. According to Partner and West Africa Tax Leader at Deloitte, Yomi Olugbenro, the restructured tax law introduces three frameworks, business tax, transaction tax and personal tax, with real estate emerging among the key beneficiaries.

He noted that the reforms provide VAT exemptions on land and property sales, capital gains tax relief on disposal of personal residential properties, and stamp duty exemptions on lower-rent leases. For developers and contractors, the reduction of withholding tax and harmonisation of compliance processes could significantly lower operating costs.

Beyond easing the tax burden, Olugbenro highlighted implications for valuation practice, particularly the new Benefit-In-Kind (BIK) rule, which pegs the taxable value of housing benefits to rental value, capped at 20 per cent of annual salary.

This, he said, could reshape corporate housing policies and drive fresh demand for commercial property.
“There are potential tax-planning advantages for management staff and improved investor interest through REITs, especially with WHT exemptions on their dividends,” he noted.
For NIESV leaders, the reforms underscore the need for practitioners to sharpen their advisory roles. Chairman of the Lagos branch, Tosin Kadiri, said the profession must understand evolving monetary policies, interest rate movements and regulatory shifts in mortgage finance to remain trusted advisers to banks, investors and government agencies.

Second Vice President of the institution, Emmanuel Mark, who chaired the event, added that ongoing reforms present both opportunities and risks, with direct implications for valuation standards, transaction structuring and sectoral growth. Practitioners, he said, must defend the profession’s core values of integrity, expertise and professionalism by staying updated.

Chairman of the national MCPD committee, Adenrele Olowokure, described the forum as part of a broader shift toward innovation-driven practice, where creativity, digital tools and multidisciplinary knowledge become central to navigating Nigeria’s dynamic real estate market.