GOVERNMENT APPROVED POLICY: LINKED PROPERTIES TO PAY N31M EXTRA AS FG ORDERS BUYERS OF SEIZED DRUG BY NDLEA
THE Federal Executive Council (FEC) has ordered the buyers of two seized real estate properties in Lagos to pay government more money to meet the cost of prevailing cost in 2001 when they were valued. This followed a memo presented to the council by the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, which explained that government did not get the proper amount for the transaction.
The FEC meeting was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday. Fashola said the properties, a four-bedroom bungalow on Adeniyi Jones Avenue Lagos, and five-bedroom duplex on Amadasun Street in GRA, Ikoyi, Lagos were seized by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in the course of narcotic prosecution.
The minister noted that the properties were sold for N2 million and N5 million respectively in 2001. He said government now wants the buyers to pay the sum of N18 million for the bungalow and N21 million for the duplex, bringing the total extra amount to be paid to N31 million.
The minister could not, however, disclose the identities of the buyers as he said they were not contained in the memo to FEC.
He said, “At that time, the valuation we got was that if they were properly valued, they should have been sold for N18 million and N20 million respectively.”
He noted that the NDLEA Act of the time gave precedence to the directives from the Ministry of Justice and regulations were made according to powers under the Act.
“But they did not take cognisance of the procurement law and the financial regulations of the time.
“We are now saying that going forward, the financial regulations must take precedence. Those are all proposals that will come as a new law when the Ministry of Finance finishes with them, so that you cannot have different regulations for disposal of assets that have been forfeited to the government. They must be subject to one superior procedure,” he added.
The minister also revealed that the government approved a policy recommendation to extend the usage life of government assets such as plants, equipment, land, property and machinery.
According to him, the new recommendation will ensure proper disposal while saving government expenditure.
Fashola said to ensure proper accountability, Ministers will now be fully involved in the procurement process as they must now sign off requests for valuation of properties of their respective ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).
He further said: “We also proposed that heads of the ministry as accounting officers must sign off now on request for valuation of properties, especially when agencies are trying to buy properties. “We’ve seen that sometimes, ministers are not even aware that proposals are being made for acquisition of some type of assets. Essentially, the council approved all of the policy recommendations. They should go to the Ministry of Finance, which is in charge of making the financial regulations in order to effect the necessary regulation.”
Meanwhile, the former Lagos State governor described Tuesday’s disruption of vehicular movement around the Sagamu Interchange of the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway as a violation of the law. Responding to a question, he appealed for the understanding of the public over the inconveniences being faced around the yet-to-becompleted segment of the busy road.
Fashola said, “We’re still on course. You might have heard that I had to call in to a programme yesterday just to provide some clarification. It’s a combination of the work that is being done and also the traffic and the behaviour of drivers and commuters, as well as elements; heavy rainfall recently, that is causing the discomfort.
