The Characterization of Surveyors by the Lagos State House of Assembly.

On the 26th of August 2019. The Lagos State House of Assembly at its plenary debated a motion by an Hon. Agunbiade calling for the review of the Survey Edict of the State to check what he claims is the Nefarious Practice of Surveyors in the State.

The Surveyors were blamed for the numerous land in disputes and also of so many other things if summarised would be simply put as being completely incompetent.

The Office of the State Surveyor General too was not spared as the motion called for its overhaul and finally the need to activate a disciplinary committee which was provided for in this 1984 Edict but would or might include other professionals. Hmmm Surveyors just had to be checked.

As a Surveyor who was trained nurtured and has practiced in Lagos for over 20 years. I felt i should say a few words about this.

First of all let me start by saying its a good thing that the Surveying profession is getting this deserved attention from the legislators of the State. For so long we have tried to get first their attention and hopefully their support to move Surveying to the next level.

However, it is very unfortunate if truly the Honourable members of the house should put all Surveyors in a box and label them bad. Seriously, that cant be true and i want to give them the benefit of the doubt.

But before we get into the details i need to highlight some facts on Surveyors and Surveying in the state of Lagos.

Lagos state has the highest number of Surveyors in the country this could possibly true also for the whole West Africa.

With well over 500 Registered Surveyors and just as many professional practices.

The Lagos state branch of the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors is its most sophisticated branch which prides itself as having produced the highest number of Secretary Generals and Presidents of the Institution. When this is considered against the backdrop that the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors is Nigeria's second oldest professional body. That speaks a lot.

The practice of Surveying in Nigeria is very high in Lagos. While the Office of the Lagos state Surveyor General is definitely the most sophisticated and advanced in the country.

Surveyors in Nigeria undergo the most rigorous training before they are professionally qualified.

Through its Regulatory body the Surveyors Council of Nigeria and its enabling act CAP425 the profession is fully administered.

By virtue of its professional body the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors established in 1934 Surveyors have been continuously groomed and had their knowledge base updated.

Clearly from the above its is very obvious that Surveying and Surveyors are thoroughbred professionals. By the grace of God this is a status that has been internationally been acknowledged. Certainly we are not just there trying to scrape a living.

Now i am not saying we are all perfect. If we were we would not require regulation. But who is really? Patients die ( Doctors) , Buildings Collapse ( Engineers, Builders), Legal cases are lost ( Lawyers). These professions are not all boxed and labelled bad.

If there are cases of professional impropriety it is good such is brought to the notice of the Surveyors Council who alone is empowered by law to investigate and discipline erring Surveyors.

However, it must be stated that each such case must be taken on its own merit. As Surveyors we are aware that many clients choose not to patronize the professional Surveyor under the guise that the fees are too high or they are too rigid and refuse to follow some special requests that run against their ethics and standards. Other clients sort of bundle their Survey with other aspects of land acquisition to a third party who does the same - looks for a pseudo surveyors in order to cut costs.

For years we have battled cases of forgery and impersonation. In fact we are on a case in court right now like that.

Being a very dynamic profession our practitioners have had to retool regularly to be in line with the trends emerging in the profession. Our processes from start to finish are completely digital. We are very much at home to Satellite cum GPS technologies and pride ourselves as owners and operators of these equipment. In terms of personnel we also have a robust class of technicians, technologists and professional Surveyors who guides the work being done.

All our work are guided by tested standards developed for use by the Regulatory body SURCON.

From the foregoing its clear that the practice of Surveying in Lagos State is in the hands of reliable professionals.

So why these problems?

The issues will continue to be there and can only be abated if the following steps are taken.

1. There is an urgent need for all to understand that for all Survey works a qualified and certified Surveyors must be engaged and directly.

2. The office of the state Surveyor General should be supported to deliver of the required support framework to ensure consistent results from surveys undertaken in and within the state.

3. There should be greater transparency and collaboration between government agencies and the practitioners to ensure consistent results.

4. The public served should be firth coming with information on the activities of quacks and also report cases of bad jobs to the regulatory and professional bodies.

In conclusion, i again want to appreciate the members of the Lagos State House of Assembly for this initiative which i hope will not stop with us Surveyors but will spread to other professions. I also hope that they will ensure that the Surveyors are engaged in a robust discussion to as to have a better understand of the issues at stake. This the Surveyors are most willing to do. I assure them we are respectable people who put the interest of the public that we serve on a very pedestal.

As for our State Lagos we will play our role to ensure its development and the prosperity of its people.

- Surv. Olumide V. Adewebi fnis
16th Secretary General of the NIS
Past Secretary General of the APBN
Chairman NIS Lagos Practice Monitoring Task Team