We can help government identify, value abandoned properties – Wike

President of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, Emmanuel Wike on Saturday said abandoned Federal Government properties scattered across Nigeria can be identified and valued for the benefit of all Nigerians.

Wike in a chat with journalists on Saturday said his organization has put structures in place to ensure that these scattered properties are properly valued and identified.

Wike said, “First of all we want to advise the government that they should hand over their properties to professional estate surveyors and valuers to manage, that is the first step.

“But for the ones that have been abandoned before now, I am aware that the House of Reps has a committee on that and we have made our presentation to them that they should allow estate surveyors and valuers to identify those properties and also advise the government on the usage of those properties either for sale, for rent or for the use of the government, that is number one.

“Number two is that as a professional body our advise to government is to first of all look at those properties to value them after their identification and also have an asset register where some of these properties will actually be enumerated; you talk about the location of the property, the value of the property, the present use of the property and if there is any future use of the property they should also be able to know what is the future use of that particular property so that at the end of the day the government can havr the highest and best use of those properties.

“You find out that there are some properties that are for commercial uses but they are being used for residential, there are those for residential that are being used for commercial, these are against planning regulations.

“So the government should be able to allow the estate surveyors and valuers to identify those properties and also advise on the best and highest use of those properties in order for them to get the best benefits out of it.”