CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Professionalizing is derived from the term Profession/Professional. A professional connotes a person with a distinct competence for a
specified function or discipline (Ojewunmi, 2005). Such a person would have been trained or has acquired the necessary training in that
discipline to become a professional in that field. A professional exists within the context of a profession; a distinct discipline or career path
with its own training, qualification and membership requirements and standards. It is in the bid to establish such standards that
professional bodies exist to ensure that persons within its fold have the requisite training/qualification and also abide by its rules and
ethical standards (Kuye, 1998). A professional in any field is a highly regarded person and is deemed to have a certain level of competence
expected of a person in that profession.
Real estate agency is essentially a land based profession that deals with the business of buying, selling or leasing of interests in real estate,
which may be land or buildings or interests therein. Practitioners of this trade are generally addressed as Estate Agents in our environment.
Considering the importance of housing in mans hierarchy of needs and the huge deficit that exists in the housing sector in Nigeria, Real
estate Agents generally play a very important role in the socio-economic life of the country. Generally a real estate agent is a person, who
possesses the authority to act on behalf of another person with a view to establishing contractual relationship between his principal and a
third party. The person, who employs the agent, is usually called the Principal. Several variants of real estate Agent/Agency exist (Olatunji,
2008).
The practice of Real estate Agency in Nigeria at present remains largely unorganized, unregulated and unprofessional. Apart from the
Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers that has set standards for its practice by its members i.e. Estate Surveyors and Valuers,
the large majority of those who practice estate agency do so without the basic training in that field, without any certification or
qualification, without any regulation and largely in an unprofessional manner (Gambo & Ashen, 2012).
The practice is generally open to all comers and entry and exit are at the sole discretion of the person. Due to the lack of a central
professional/regulatory body that will set minimum standards for entry, set standards for its practice, as well as ensure adherence to a code
of ethics, most estate agents are generally on their own and quackery with its attendant consequences is very prevalent if not the order of
the day (Gambo & Ashen, 2012). A multiplicity of local estate agents Associations exists but these are essentially local bodies without the
right structure, leadership or plan to advance the practice of real estate agency beyond the parochial interest of the founders or originators
(Hemuka, 2002).
The effects of this present state of real estate agency practice in Nigeria are indeed too numerous to count. The major effects are that due to
lack of regulation and requisite competence on the part of the practitioners, the consuming public has been on the receiving end of estate
agents in terms of very poor services, fraudulent transactions and losses of income through the activities of dubious practitioners (Hunter,
1997). As a result of this, the public perception of the real estate agent is very poor. Real estate Agents are generally looked upon as persons,
who engage in sharp practices and whom you have to deal with, with “all eyes” open. In view of this, the practitioners are not respected in
the society.
The very low level of respect for the practitioners has led to a situation where both vendors and landlords alike do not see the
need to remunerate them appropriately, while the lack of standardization and regulation has led to both the landlords and the vendors
turning themselves into agents. In most cases, multiple agents are appointed and owing to lack of standardized practice procedures it
usually turns into a cut throat competition amongst them. The level of abortive work done by the average real estate agent is phenomenally
high due to the non standardized practice procedure. The police, EFCC and other law enforcement agencies after the real estate agents
in the belief that a lot of money laundering is done through the acquisition of properties with illicitly acquired wealth (Olatunji, 2008).
To achieve professionalism in the practice of real estate agency in Nigeria, the right approach will be to work towards ensuring that Real
estate agents are appropriately trained and certified to practice, establish standardized prequalification and registration protocols for the
prospective estate agents, keep a register of all qualified and certified estate agents, enforce compliance to a code of ethics and practice
through sanctions, institute and implement mandatory training programmes for practitioners, Institute appropriate professional indemnity
insurance programmes for members, to ensure the protection of members of the public, set remuneration due to agents whether as single
agents or cooperating agents, generally regulate the practice of estate agency, develop and project the practice of estate agency as a
respectable brand that will continuously earn the trust of members of the public through quality service delivery of its members. It will also
protect and defend the interest of practitioners.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Real estate agency practice in Nigeria like other countries of the world contributes massively to housing delivery system as it helps to meet
as well as cater for the housing/accommodation needs of people. Due to the important roles real estate agents play in the housing and
accommodation delivery sector of the economy, so many people have become victims of accommodation fraud from the hands of some of
these estate agents who go about duping genuine accommodation seekers which has been the reason for calls from many quarters on the
need to professionalize the profession in Nigeria. Professionalizing real estate agency in Nigeria will benefit not just the consuming public
but also the practitioners. While the public will benefit through improved or quality agency services from reliable and well referenced real
estate agents, the practitioners will benefit through proper regulation of the practice, which will ensure that only qualified and certified
persons practice the trade and that the practitioners are appropriately trained, equipped and remunerated
