An Estate Surveyor and Valuer ESV. Blessing Chisom Kalu, said it is very essential to carryout valuation during property compensation.

She stated this yesterday in Abuja, explaining that compensation is the payment made to the owner of an acquired property or any interest in a property.
“This is designed to put such persons in the same position as they would have been, had the acquisition not occurred.
“ There is no compensation without
Valuation”.
She said in carrying out compensation it
requires the services of a trained and certified Estate Surveyors & Valuers to access the buildings and improvements that were affected by the compulsory acquisition.

She said” In Nigeria, as a result of the Land Use Act 1978, all lands belongs to the government; consequently, government can statutorily acquire any land it deems fit for public purposes or overriding public interest such as road construction, infrastructure development, urban planning or economic projects- Train tracks among others”.

However, she explained that “When the government compulsorily acquires land for the purposes mentioned above, compensation becomes mandatory.

According to her, the role of Estate Surveyors & Valuers can not be over emphasized whenever compensation is mentioned; they are the only professionally authorized body to ascertain the value of lands, buildings and appurtenances.

“The estate surveyors and valuers are engaged to prepare valuation report on the affected properties to the government for adequate compensation.
“And after the compensation is paid to the affected individuals, they loose all rights to the affected properties or land and are obligated to vacate if they were in occupation, to allow the government use the land or property for their intended purpose.”
She gave an instance, saying that the federal government’s planned coastal highway project, a Highway that will revolutionise Nigeria transport system by connecting the Coastal lines of Lagos to Calabar through the 700km coastal lines that cut across Ogun, Ondo, Delta, Edo, Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa ibom states.
She noted that “Those whose lands and properties will be affected by this project will be compensated by the government; thus, both the government and the people concerned will need the services of an Estate Surveyor to ascertain and advice them on the issues of compensation”.
Meanwhile, She stated that as the project advances in phases,” I want to use this medium to advice the general public whose properties fall within the corridors and are yet to seek adequate compensation to do so bearing in mind that the compensation is paid on the improvements on the land and not the land itself as the interest in land is vested on the Government as enshrined in our constitution”, she emphasized.