Why should changing ownership on an existing survey cost millions of naira when little or no new surveying work is being done?
Oyo State says it wants investors, developers and businesses. Yet property buyers are confronting a survey fee practice that can add millions of naira to the cost of acquiring an already surveyed property.
At the centre of the controversy are the leadership of the surveying profession in Oyo State, including Surveyor Ajibade Bashiru, identified as Chairman of the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors, Oyo State Branch, and Surveyor Adeoye, identified as the Oyo State Surveyor General.
Their respective institutions and their roles in this controversial fee arrangement deserve immediate public scrutiny.
WHAT EXACTLY JUSTIFIES 10 PERCENT?
When virgin land is surveyed, a surveyor must visit the site, take measurements, establish coordinates, identify boundaries, prepare the survey plan and perform genuine technical work.
Nobody disputes that surveyors should be properly paid for such professional services.
But consider a property that has already been surveyed.
The coordinates already exist.
The boundaries have not changed.
The survey already exists.
The land has not moved.
Only the ownership has changed.
Yet under the disputed change of title fee arrangement, a buyer can be asked to pay as much as 10 percent of the value of the property.
Buy an already surveyed property for ₦50 million and the charge could be ₦5 million.
For a ₦100 million property, it could become ₦10 million.
For a ₦500 million commercial property, it could reach an astonishing ₦50 million.
What new surveying work justifies ₦50 million?
THE LEADERSHIP CANNOT REMAIN SILENT
This is where Surveyor Ajibade Bashiru and Surveyor Adeoye must provide clear answers.
As the identified Chairman of the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors, Oyo State Branch, Surveyor Ajibade Bashiru should explain the professional justification for tying a change of title fee to the purchase price of a property rather than the actual surveying work performed.
Likewise, as the identified Oyo State Surveyor General, Surveyor Adeoye should explain the role, if any, of his office in recognising, facilitating, endorsing or enforcing this arrangement.
If these officials or their institutions have participated in maintaining or enforcing the disputed system, then their involvement must be subjected to independent scrutiny.
Property owners deserve to know whether this is a legitimate government charge, a professional fee, a recommended fee or a compulsory private payment.
They also deserve to know who receives the money.
THIS LOOKS LIKE A MONEY MAKING SCHEME THAT REQUIRES INVESTIGATION
When a ₦50 million property can generate a ₦5 million fee merely because ownership changed, while little or no corresponding new field surveying work is apparent, property buyers are entitled to question whether the system has become more about generating money than compensating professionals for actual work performed.
That question becomes even more important when the professional leadership responsible for surveyors and the government authority overseeing surveying operate within the same regulatory environment.
The public therefore deserves answers from Surveyor Ajibade Bashiru and Surveyor Adeoye:
Who created the 10 percent formula?
What law makes it compulsory?
What actual work is performed for the money?
Who receives the 10 percent?
Can a surveyor charge substantially less?
What happens to a surveyor who refuses to apply the percentage?
What role does the Surveyor General’s Office play in the process?
And perhaps most importantly:
Why should the value of somebody’s property determine the surveyor’s fee when the amount of surveying work may remain essentially the same?
GOVERNOR MAKINDE SHOULD ORDER AN INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION
This matter should not be left for the surveying establishment to investigate itself.
Governor Seyi Makinde should order an independent review of the entire change of title survey fee system in Oyo State.
If substantial surveying work is performed, surveyors deserve appropriate professional compensation.
But if an existing survey merely requires an ownership update, the charge should reasonably reflect the work required.
Oyo State cannot invite investors with one hand while allowing questionable transaction costs to drive them away with the other.
Surveyor Ajibade Bashiru and Surveyor Adeoye should publicly explain their institutions’ involvement in this system and the justification for the 10 percent formula.
If there is a legitimate professional and legal justification, publish it.
If there is a government regulation authorising it, publish it.
If money is collected, tell the public who receives it.
And if there is no reasonable justification for charging property owners millions of naira where little or no new surveying work is performed, the practice should end.
The land has not moved. The boundaries have not changed. The coordinates already exist.
So why should changing ownership of a ₦50 million property cost ₦5 million?
Oyo State property owners and investors deserve an answer.
Femi Kukoyi, a businessman and real estate developer, writes from Bodija, Ibadan, Oyo State
