Strategic Advisory in a Volatile Economy: How Professional Valuers Can Drive Policy and Investor Confidence

By ESV Dr. Ethel Mendie

The Missing Link Between Assets and Economic Stability
In periods of economic uncertainty, investors instinctively seek safe harbors currencies, commodities, and increasingly, real estate. Yet, what often determines the strength of these havens isn’t just the assets themselves, but the credibility of those who value, manage, and advise on them. Across the world, Estate Surveyors and Valuers are emerging as strategic players in the policy and investment ecosystem. Their work goes beyond appraising land or buildings it involves, shaping fiscal decisions, optimizing public assets, and reinforcing the confidence that anchors markets. In Nigeria’s volatile economic landscape, marked by inflationary pressures, currency fluctuations, and fiscal tightening the professional valuer’s role has never been more critical.

When Valuation Becomes Policy Infrastructure

Sound valuation is more than a technical exercise; it is a pillar of economic governance. Every fiscal decision from public-private partnerships (PPPs) to privatization, debt securitization, and infrastructure budgeting depends on credible asset valuation. According to the World Bank (2024), weak or inconsistent valuation standards can distort national balance sheets by as much as 15% of GDP in emerging economies. This often leads to mispriced assets, inefficient allocation of capital, and erosion of investor confidence.
Countries that have institutionalized professional valuation frameworks such as the United Kingdom, Singapore, and South Africa are better able to align asset value with policy value. For instance, South Africa’s Government Immovable Asset Management Act (GIAMA) provides a unified valuation basis for public assets, allowing fiscal planning to rest on credible, data-driven metrics (National Treasury, 2023). Nigeria’s infrastructure and property portfolio runs into trillions of naira, yet much of it remains unvalued, underutilized, or misclassified. That gap is both a risk and an opportunity, a call for the professionalization of strategic asset advisory across all tiers of government.

Valuers as Economic Diplomats

In the private sector, investors depend on valuers as interpreters of market truth. But at the national level, valuers must also function as economic diplomats, mediating between public policy, private investment and public trust. This requires an expanded skill set:
​•​Understanding macroeconomic policy and fiscal indicators
​•​Translating asset performance into policy insights
​•​Advising on risk, sustainability, and long-term capital strategy
The International Valuation Standards Council (IVSC, 2023) notes that nations with strong valuation governance frameworks attract up to 30% more foreign investment in real assets, largely because investor’s view asset valuation integrity as a proxy for institutional strength.
For Nigeria, integrating valuers into the national economic policy loop from infrastructure auditing to asset monetization would be a decisive move toward credibility and capital attraction.

The Public Sector Opportunity: Valuation as Fiscal Intelligence

Every government holds a vast portfolio of land, buildings, and natural assets. Yet in many developing economies, these remain invisible on national balance sheets.
A Deloitte (2024) report on public asset optimization found that accurate valuation and management of state-owned properties could increase national revenues by up to 3% of GDP annually. For a country like Nigeria, that’s equivalent to several billion dollars in fiscal headroom.
To achieve this, government needs valuation as fiscal intelligence not just to price assets, but to strategize their use, efficiency, and potential for monetization. The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Debt Management Office (DMO), and Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) could all benefit from stronger integration of professional valuers in asset-based fiscal planning.

Investor Confidence in Volatile Markets

Volatility erodes trust faster than it erodes value.
In uncertain economies, the difference between stagnation and resilience often lies in the quality of information. When valuation is transparent, standardized, and data-backed, investors can make decisions with confidence. When it isn’t, capital retreats. A PwC Nigeria (2024) investor perception survey revealed that 68% of institutional investors cite lack of credible property data and valuation transparency as key barriers to entry into the Nigerian real estate market.
Rebuilding that trust requires a dual approach:

1. Strengthening the Regulatory Framework; Enforcing adherence to international valuation standards (IVS) and modern reporting structures.
2. Building a National Valuation Database; A shared platform for verified asset data across public and private sectors.
   By doing so, Nigeria can position itself as a transparent investment hub, especially for infrastructure funds, REITs, and foreign institutional investors.

The Strategic Advisor of the Future
The next generation of valuers will not be defined by technical precision alone, but by strategic influence.
Tomorrow’s valuation professional will be expected to:

• Advise on asset-backed securities and infrastructure financing
• Conduct scenario-based asset stress testing
• Integrate ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) metrics into valuation models
• Participate in public policy design, especially for asset monetization and fiscal reform
  Institutions such as the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) can take the lead by creating a National Council on Strategic Asset Advisory, linking professionals directly with government planning agencies.
  Such collaboration would institutionalize valuation as part of national governance, not an afterthought.

Conclusion: Valuation as a Trust Economy

In the end, valuation is not just about numbers, it is about trust. Investors don’t just buy property; they buy confidence in the system that supports it. Nigeria’s path to economic stability and investor confidence lies not merely in owning assets, but in understanding, managing, and valuing them with integrity.
If the country builds that bridge between professional valuation and economic policy, the result will be a stronger currency of trust one that turns volatility into visibility and potential into prosperity.

About the Author

ESV Dr. Ethel Mendie is a professional Estate Surveyor and Valuer, strategic advisor, and advocate for institutional reforms in asset management and economic governance. She writes on valuation intelligence, investment policy, and the evolving role of professionals in driving sustainable development.