Surveyors tasked on right business model for sustainable practice

By: DayoAyeyemi | Lagos

PROFESSIONALS under the auspices of the Association of Private Practicing Surveyors of Nigeria (APPSN), a subgroup of the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS), have been urged to embrace modern business model for sustainable practice of the profession.

Speaking during the Annual General Meeting of the group, themed: “Re-engineering Professionalism in the Private Sector towards Service Delivery,”

The guest speaker, Mr Tope Yinka- Ojo, told the private practicing surveyors that they cannot use the analog strategy to solve the problem being confronted in the present age.

For this reason, he said there was a need for them to upgrade and embrace modern business model.

According to him, the previous business model used by many cannot actually deliver things in the required ways, emphasising the need to develop contemporary skills in terms of negotiations, presentations and the way they currently run their practice.

He said there was the need to migrate from just thinking in terms of subsistence that will take care of themselves, their families and immediate needs, to becoming big brands.

His lecture touched on how to deploy technology to make clients feel better, improving client’s service delivery and customer retainership.

The guest lecturer further addressed critical questions for remodeling practices of surveying into standard models that has continued to aid the performance of top class professionals across the world.

“We need to improve on our problem solving skills. It goes beyond the training received, and the certificate from the universities. There are things that were not taught in school that we meet in practice. So that’s why you have to come with a lot of new skills, new technology new system to surmount them,” he said.

Chairmanof the APPSN, Lagos chapter, MrAdaranijo Rafiu, explained that the annual general meeting remained a vital programme of the association designed to pool practitioners together, where they could interact, share ideas and learn new things.

He said both the guest speakers and lecturers aimed at equipping them for better service deliveries.

He said, “Surveying is the bedrock of every development, it is however unfortunate  that many do not see it that way, you will find many building skyscrapers without significant inputs from surveyors, most do so out of ignorance, which is the reason behind the collapse of buildings experienced in our clime.

“If surveyors are engaged, we would tell them what they needed to do at every point of the building.”

Adaranijo explained that the remapping of Lagos by the State Government in 2019, has rendered  some of the instruments used by some of the surveyors obsolete, requiring the need to update in tandem with current requirements, else they will find it difficult to practice and make ends meet.

 To ameliorate the situation, he said the association has to step in with the assistance of some companies to enable members acquire modern equipment with arrangement to pay off instalmentally.

Lending his voice, past Chairman of APPSN, MrOdetunmibi Odewole, encouraged his colleagues to embrace best practices.

He urged that as professionals, they should not be static.

“We should keep evolving; we should keep improving in the light of developments in technology and advancements in our society.

“So, we should keep re-engineering ourselves to be able to respond to the needs of our profession and expectations of the society.

Special Guest of Honour, KayodeAnibaba,an architect, who was represented by MrFolaJibowu, said he saw in the midst of surveyors “a great sense of camaraderie, a great sense of brotherhood and a sense of family.”