- Professional: A professional is a person who has acquired specialized knowledge, training and skill approved, recognised and registered to carry out, individually or collectively, the vocation of the profession. An Estate Surveyor and Valuer is a person qualified, recognised, registered and legally empowered to carry out the profession of Estate Surveying and Valuation as defined under the regulations made in pursuance of Section 2(d) of the Estate Surveyor and Valuers Registration Board Decree No 24 of 1975 in Nigeria. (Ref: Regulations and Rules of Practice).
- Charlatan: Wikipedia (2017) defines charlatan (also called swindler or mountebank) as a person practicing quackery or some similar confidence trick in order to obtain money, fame or other advantages via some form of pretense or deception. The word comes from French charlatan, a seller of medicines who might advertise his presence with music and an outdoor stage show. As indicated in WordWeb dictionary (2017), the word charlatan is “a flamboyant deceiver; one who attracts customers with tricks or jokes”.
A charlatan, as it relates to Estate Management profession, is a person without adequate training; skills, and knowledge in the profession as it were; also a person who has not received any authority from the professional Institution and Board to practice the profession. In a way, he is an unauthorised person or illegal practitioner. In relation to Estate Surveying and Valuation Profession, a charlatan is a person who practices any part of the profession without being registered by the appropriate bodies overseeing the profession, i.e. NIESV and ESVARBON.
In usage, a subtle difference is drawn between the charlatan and other kinds of confidence people. The charlatan is usually a sales person. He does not try to create a personal relationship with his market, but sets up an elaborate hoax using role playing. The charlatan usually resorts to quackery, pseudo-science, or some knowingly employed beings means of impressing people in order to swindle his victims by selling them worthless nostrils and similar goods or services that will not deliver on the promises made for them.
