Nigeria risks losing substantial revenue from property-related taxes and weakening its management of public wealth due to an estimated N30 trillion gap in the valuation and documentation of assets across the country, the Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria (ESVARBON) has warned.
The Board said the failure to establish credible values for properties and other assets was undermining effective tax administration, public-sector accounting, insurance, estate management and government’s ability to determine the true worth of national assets.
Speaking at the 2026 Valuers Assembly in Abuja on Thursday, Acting Chairman of ESVARBON, Dr Aminu Waziri, said the scale of the valuation gap underscored the need for government agencies and public institutions to systematically identify, value and document assets in accordance with internationally recognised standards.
Waziri specifically urged Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to embrace the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), saying the framework would help government build a credible inventory of public assets and establish their actual value.
“With the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) being part of the Nigerian developmental pathway, all the parastatals, departments and agencies that are supposed to be valuing and documenting our assets need to key into this,” he said.
According to him, regular and professional valuation would provide government with a clearer picture of the assets under its control and strengthen accountability, planning and decision-making.
He said the valuation challenge also had implications for Nigeria’s housing sector, which he said was facing a deficit of more than 21 million units.
Also speaking, a former Chairman of the ESVARBON Education Committee and Board Member of the International Valuation Standards Council, Dr ESV Uche Egwuatu, said professional valuation could help government unlock additional revenue from the property sector.
Egwuatu said estate surveyors and valuers possessed the technical expertise required to determine the market and taxable values of properties but were still largely underutilised by government.
“We have the scale, but for one reason or the other, the government is not really giving us much attention,” she said.
She said credible valuation was particularly important as the federal government sought to expand the tax base and improve Nigeria’s tax-to-GDP ratio.
According to her, property tax, capital gains tax, capital transfer tax and estate duties all depend substantially on reliable valuation of assets.
Egwuatu warned that where government lacked accurate information on the value of properties, tax assessments could become subjective and result in revenue leakages.
“If they don’t know the value, the rate they will charge will be very subjective, based on whatever the officials decide by themselves,” she said.
She therefore called for greater involvement of registered estate surveyors and valuers in government’s asset valuation, portfolio management, taxation and property-market policy.
Waziri also highlighted the implications of inaccurate valuation for the insurance industry, saying inadequate valuation before insurance cover could leave property owners with insufficient compensation when insured assets were damaged or destroyed.
He said professional valuation would help insurers determine appropriate indemnity levels and provide a more reliable basis for settling claims.
The assembly also examined emerging issues in the valuation of intangible assets, including intellectual property and other assets without physical form.
A presentation by Edwina Tam of Kroll examined the application of International Valuation Standards (IVS 210) to intangible assets, noting that their valuation could be challenging because of limited comparable market evidence and the unique characteristics of individual assets.
The presentation identified the market, income and asset approaches as major valuation frameworks and highlighted methodologies including relief-from-royalty, multi-period excess earnings and with-and-without approaches.
The experts further examined the growing influence of technology and artificial intelligence on the valuation profession, noting that emerging technologies would increase the importance of data analytics, industry expertise, global valuation standards, continuous professional development and professional scepticism.
The discussions underscored the growing importance of reliable valuation information to Nigeria’s efforts to improve tax administration, strengthen public-sector accounting, protect property owners, regulate the property market and manage national assets.