The Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) has expressed confidence that valuation alone holds the potential to unlock N500 trillion across various sectors of the economy, including oil and gas. The institution also commended the Federal Government's efforts in rebooting the economy through reforms, stressing that what needs to be done is reimagining the economic architecture in a way that will fully unlock the nation's vast potential and wealth, moving the economy from its present recovering state to a state of rapid, sustainable development.
Speaking ahead of the 2026 International Valuation Day in Abuja, the President of the institution, Mallam Bature Ali Muhammad, emphasized that valuation is crucial for Nigeria's economic transformation. He stated: “It is not in contention that the government's bold economic reforms have begun to yield positive results, and the nation's troubled economy is already showing promising signs of recovery, a positive trajectory, I would say. But then, a fundamental reimagining of Nigeria's economic architecture, such that will fully unlock the nation's vast potential and wealth, move the economy from its present recovering state to a state of rapid and sustainable development, the one that guarantees national prosperity, should be our focus and objective.”
“As a critical stakeholder and key driver of Nigeria's economic development, the NIESV is using this opportunity to remind the government, policy makers, government agencies and institutions, the organized private sector, and other stakeholders in the Nigerian project that valuation is a critical process in unlocking Nigeria's vast resources, vast economic potentials, wealth, and in building economic prosperity. Valuation is crucial for Nigeria's economic transformation, crucial to creating, unlocking and achieving both over N500 trillion budget and N500 trillion in economic value through various sectors such as oil and gas reform, tax reform and strategic development of critical minerals.”
“And that makes the theme for the 2025 International Valuation Day – ‘Unlocking Nigeria's Wealth: How Valuation Builds Our Prosperity’ – critical and appropriate. Critical and appropriate in the sense that it comes at the time the government is churning out policies to re-engineer the nation's challenged economy. The significance of this theme therefore lies in the fact that it offers a roadmap to unlocking the nation's wealth, financial stability, sustainable development, and building of prosperity, in as much as valuation is crucial to enhancement of government revenue through the instrumentality of taxation for example. Incidentally, tax reform is one of the systemic approaches the government is using to re-engineer the economy for sustainable development. Note that accurate and precise tax cannot be obtained without credible asset valuation.”
Muhammad emphasized that valuation is key to the success of the tax reforms. “I would be right to say then that valuation is key to the success of the tax reforms. That makes estate surveyors and valuers critical partners to government in the current tax reform regime, and this tells me that without the role and influence of estate surveyors and valuers within the Nigerian economic development context, it would be very difficult for the nation to advance in economic development,” he added.
