ESTATE SURVEYORS AND VALUERS’ INVOLVEMENT IN OUTDOOR ADVERTISING BILLBOARDS VALUATION IN LAGOS, NIGERIA

Outdoor advertising billboards, especially the off-premise, stand-alone types, are common sights along major thoroughfares in Nigerian cities such as Lagos. They are attached to real estate, and in most cases, are meant to be permanent structures. They are developed to provide display spaces for advertisement in exchange for rent, and thus, they are income producing assets. Their valuation is therefore imperative for different purposes such as sale/purchase, compensation, insurance, lending and accounting. This study examined the involvement of estate surveyors and valuers in the valuation of this outdoor advertising asset in Lagos. By employing the purposive sampling method, managers of 34 out of 85 outdoor advertising companies and 147 out of 366 estate surveying and valuation firms in Lagos were sampled through the use of close-ended questionnaires. The 29 questionnaires retrieved from the outdoor advertising companies and the 127 retrieved from the estate surveying and valuation firms were analysed using descriptive statistical tools. The study revealed that the involvement of estate surveyors and valuers in the valuation of billboards in Lagos, Nigeria was modest as only 146 cases out of 280 activities requiring valuation (52.1%) between 2012 and 2017 were valuations carried out by estate surveyors and valuers. Other unprofessional basis were resorted to in determining values of billboards. Also, activities such as sale/purchase of billboards and, compensation for billboards compulsorily acquired, requiring valuations, were seldom carried out thereby restraining the involvement of valuers. Outdoor advertising companies should embrace the use of estate surveyors and valuers more in all their activities requiring valuation as this is the only way to achieve transparency, accountability and compliance with regulations. Firms of Estate Surveyors and valuers too should prospect more for valuation from all stakeholders to expand their areas of operation, build capacity and create employment for up-coming estate valuers in Nigeria.