FG orders buyers of seized drug-linked properties to pay N31m extra

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. 

“Once again, I use this medium to apologise and to empathise with citizens and commuters who need that place to get on with their lives. 

“It’s the place we left to the last really because it’s the most built-up area, the last six kilometres into Lagos, very densely populated and occupied and there’s very little room for alternative routes for people, so they just have to bear with us. 

“I also heard that some aggrieved students, under the aegis of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) are also going on to the road in order to protest. My respectful view is that that is not helpful at all to the citizens. The right to protest is a very well protected right in our constitution, but it does not include the right to inflict pain and inconvenience on other people. 

“So, whilst their protests can go on, they should refrain from blocking the road in order to do their protest; that in itself is a violation of law, if they are well advised.” 

Meanwhile, FEC also approved partnership for the production of local vaccines on Wednesday. The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, disclosed that Nigeria will start the construction of an inoculation plant by end of the year after signing a contract manufacturing agreement with Serum Institute of India for local production of the jabs. 

In his presentation at the briefing, he said, “The approval has been given and then with this partnership now, they will now break the ground and start building right away. 

“Local production of inoculations has become imperative for Nigeria as vaccine subsidies from international community are expected to end within the next six years, which means that the country will have to come up with $300 million to buy its jabs. 

“By 2028, the support we used to get from GAVI to subsidise our vaccines will expire. And by that time, we should be producing our own vaccine domestically.” FEC also approved a N28.4 billion augmentation in the contract for engineering infrastructure development in the Wasa Affordable Housing District of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The contract was initially awarded to Gilmor Nigeria Limited in 2014 at the cost of about N56.9 billion with the augmentation bringing the total cost to about N85.04 billion. The Minister of the FCT, Mohammed Bello, disclosed this while briefing correspondents at the end of the FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday. FEC also approved N2.044 billion for the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) in respect of a contract for the construction of internal roads and drainages to the Polaku Gas Hub in Bayelsa State.

Also speaking at the briefing, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, who disclosed this said that the gas hub is targeted at encouraging development of gas processing companies. He stated: “Council today approved a contract to Messrs Black Springs limited to construct internal roads and drainages in NCDMB gas hub located at Polaku in Bayelsa State.

“The gas hub is to encourage the development of companies that will process and develop our gas, to deepen the use of gas internally, to be able to process gas for export and to also construct cylinder.” Sylva assured that the Old Port Harcourt Refinery will become operational by December this year even as he said the development of the compressed natural gas (CNG) is still in progress. According to him, one of the two refineries, the old one with 60,000 barrels-perday capacity, will be functional by the end of 2022, just as works are also progressing on both the Warri and Kaduna refineries.