Asset disposal exercise: Auctioneers commend ICPC’s transparency

Auctioneers who participated in this year’s assets disposal exercise conducted by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) have overwhelmingly commended the commission for successfully conducting the exercise, describing it as transparent.

Forty auctioneers participated in a disposal exercise conducted Thursday last week at the commission’s auditorium at its headquarters in Abuja.

The commission’s spokesman, Demola Bakare informed in a statement made available to Tribune Online, on Sunday, said that the balloting exercise for the assets, which was organised by the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Department (POCD) of the Commission saw 26 out of the 40 auctioneers winning various categories of assets disposed by the Commission on behalf of the Federal Government

According to him, the assets included plots of land, buildings and vehicles.

Earlier in his opening remarks, the Acting Director of POCD, Mr Michael Agboro, revealed that “a total of one hundred and nineteen companies submitted an expression of interest. More than half have fallen by the way” for not meeting the desired requirements.

Agboro, Bakare informed, told those who made it to the balloting process that, “You are partners with the Commission to ensure that the government gets value for forfeited assets.

“The assets were seized from those who stole from the common heritage. So, you are to sell these assets so that the government can recoup what they stole.”

The spokesman further stated that Agboro further informed the participants about the nature of the balloting exercise and read to them some ground rules before the process began.

“During the balloting exercise, forty envelopes were dropped into a ballot box for participants to pick their ballot and display to the audience and the officials.

“Photos of items won by the successful auctioneers were also displayed alongside,” Bakare stated.

According to him, at the end of the exercise, a total of 26 assets were won. The assets, which were divided into 20 lots to ballot based on certain criteria, had four moveable assets, six paired assets and 13 stand-alone assets.

The four moveable assets were situated at the Commission’s headquarters while the rest were in the various states including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Gombe, Nasarawa, Akwa-Ibom, Ekiti, Kaduna, Sokoto and Rivers States respectively.

A major highlight of the event was the signing of a register by the winners against their company name to show their acceptance.

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