An evaluation of the training needs of Nigerian estate surveyors for corporate real estate management practice

Purpose - This paper aims to examine the skill requirements for the practice of corporate real estate management (CREM) in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach - Questionnaires were distributed to 270 practising estate firms in Lagos State, Nigeria, 145 final year students of Estate Management in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Nigeria as well as corporate real executive officers of the 24 recapitalised commercial banks, 21 insurance and five GSM communication companies in Nigeria. A total of 260 questionnaires (58 per cent) were returned and found useful for the study. The study adopted the descriptive method of percentages, mean and proportion method for analysis. Findings - The study found that in rank order, the skill requirements for CREM were financial performance skill, investment in corporate strategy, productivity skill, space efficiency management skill and customers and employees' management skill. The mean figures for the five factors are 5.0, 4.8, 4.8, 4.73 and 4.67 respectively. The results of the analysis also showed further that the portfolio efficiency skill had a mean value of 3.58 and was rated by the respondents as the least skill required for corporate real estate management. Research limitations/implications - Limiting the scope of the study to CRE executives and practitioners in selected service industry and students of a university might pose a great challenge to the representativeness of the findings. Practical implications - The study has major implications on real estate education and practice in Nigeria. There is an urgent need to overhaul the university/polytechnic curriculum to incorporate business and accounting knowledge to prepare real estate graduates for efficient practice and the continuous re-training of practitioners to prevent future declining real estate profession. Social implications - The negative implication of joblessness arising from unemployable graduates of real estate by corporate organisations breeds more social vices. Originality/value - The paper documents the requisite information needed for developing contemporary policy on real estate education in the country. It also serves as a guide for real estate practitioners and regulatory bodies for developing contemporary real estate practice to meet emerging trends in CREM practice and for relevance in the practice of CREM as an evolving sub- discipline of estate management.