Honourable Esosa Iyawe, lawmaker representing Oredo Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives, has moved a motion urging the Federal Government to convert forfeited and abandoned properties in the country and overseas, into office spaces for Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs), occupying rented facilities.
Esosa Iyawe recently moved the motion on the floor of the house during plenary. The outstanding lawmaker bemoaned the decrepit and abandoned state of properties seized from politically exposed persons, thereby calling for the conversion of six properties for the use of MDAs and other government establishments across the country.
The engineer-turned legislator stressed that assets recovered as proceeds of corruption, whether home or abroad, is not being put into judicious use, and pointed out that Recovery and Management Act provides a robust legal framework for managing and recovering such proceeds.
According to Esosa Iyawe, the federal government, through a directorate, has the authority to allocate permanently forfeited properties to security and other government agencies. Esosa Iyawe reminded his colleagues that in a bid to reduce high expenditure on rent and office buildings in 2017, the federal government converted landed properties seized by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for office use by some of its agencies, to save the country about N180 billion.
“I represent the good people of Oredo Federal Constituency. Mr Speaker, I’m from Edo State. The House is aware that in a bid to reduce the high expenditure on rent and office buildings in 2017, the Federal Government converted landed properties seized by EFCC for office use by some agencies of government, does saving the country about N180billion. The Federal Government to renovate and convert permanently forfeited lands and buildings into offices for federal government agencies operating from rented offices,” Esosa Iyawe said while moving the motion.
Hon. Esosa Iyawe expressed worry, that government agencies operating in states across Nigeria are experiencing difficulties in finding the right and conducive offices induced by paying rent, while over 50 assets confiscated from politically exposed persons, civil servants and other individuals are currently unoccupied and rotting away.
Consequently, the house resolved to urge the federal government to renovate and convert permanently forfeited lands and buildings into offices for federal government’s agencies operating from rented offices, and mandated its committee on public assets to ensure compliance.
It is one of the several motions Esosa Iyawe has moved in the last months geared towards national development and economic prosperity of the country. Earlier this year, he moved a motion at the Green Chamber, seeking to mandate all uniformed government organisations to buy their fabric from the National Union of Textile, Garment, and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN), in order to resuscitate the comatose textile industry in Nigeria. In December 2023, Esosa also lamented the wanton neglect of public assets and its untapped economic benefits to the country, and subsequently moved a motion for up-to-date record of such for monetizatiion, to shore up government’s dwindling revenue.
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