The Institute of Mortgage Brokers and Lenders of Nigeria at the weekend unveiled its plan to eliminate fraudsters from the real estate industry.

Speaking with The Nation in Abuja, its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Hon. Adeleye Jasper, said the institute has insisted there must be professionalism in the industry.

According to him, the field of mortgage brokers and lenders will exclusively be for certified estate agents.

His words: “This law, which regulates the practice, is good. First of all, we have to eliminate fraudsters from the industry. We are trying to put professionalism in this institution. We are trying to see that those who are fit to practise actually come into the field.”

He recalled that last December 2, with President Muhammadu Buhari’s assent, there became an Act that “establishes the Institute of Mortgage Brokers and Lenders to make provision for determining the standard of knowledge and skill to be attained by persons seeking to be Chartered Estate Brokers, Certified Mortgage Agents and Certified Estate Agents.”

Jasper noted that the institute, which is empowered by law to regulate the industry, will weed out quacks in the real estate business.

The law, he said, has also mandated the institute to regulate the agents in mortgage industry.

To do this, the institute has also planned to embark on awareness about the existence of the new law, according to him.

The CEO added that the institute has also planned to train its agents.

“You find a lot of people practising real estate agents without training.

“With this, we will train them. We will ensure there is professionalism in it and we will have to keep them so that we can actually move this country forward,” said Jasper.

He lamented that aside the Primary Mortgage Institutions (PMIs) and mortgage brokers in the country, the government lacks a data base.

The CEO explained that there is no data that can readily display who lives in an estate, the number of occupants and even the number of houses.

He said: “Do you know in this country, for you to be an Estate Agent, the government does not even have the data base of those who live in a house in this country. “That is very bad. With this law, we will have the data base of those who lives in a house.”

He said profession should be for you to get someone who needs a house and from somebody who wants a house.

In order to prospect perfectly in the field, the CEO said “you must be able to get the data base of the person. If I want the data base of someone who lives in a house.”

Jasper vowed that the institute will create a server that will contain the data.

He added that: “We are going to create a server that we can actually put all those things.”

Continuing, Jasper said: “In the next few years we will see this profession booming in this country. We will be able to see the output which is going to be great for us in this country.”

He explained that an Estate Agent is someone who manages a property, who looks for someone, who looks for a house and someone who wants to let his house out.

According to him, Real Estate Brokers are those who look for those who want to buy property through mortgage.