We don’t know amount realised from previous sale of FG properties ― Presidential Implementation Committee

The Presidential Implementation Committee (PIC) on the Sales of Federal Government landed properties on Wednesday denied knowledge of the actual amount realized from the sale of Federal Government (FG) properties carried out by successive administrations.

The PIC secretary, Mr Kola Adeyemi, who disclosed this while speaking at the investigative hearing held at the instance of the House Committee on Public Accounts chaired by Honourable Wole Oke, however, explained that the Committee never had access to the proceeds domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in line with presidential directives.

On his part, the Managing Director/CEO of Nigeria Electricity Liabilities Management Company (NELMCO), Mr Adebayo Fagbemi explained that some of the non-core assets of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) in Lagos and Abuja sold by PIC, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) before 2013 were also captured as being transferred to NELMCO.

According to him, the “landed property allegedly transferred to NELMCO, including No. 14 Oba Akinjobi Street through to No. 17 MacDonald Ikoyi, Lagos were allegedly transferred to NELMCO schedule as at today but the preliminary audit showed that they were handled by the PIC,” rather than expunge it from the schedule handed over to NELMCO.

He maintained that the “payments were not made to NELMCO. We don’t have the details of the remittances of those monies because they were sold by the PIC,” adding that the proceeds from properties sold by Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) in Kado Estate, Abuja were not accounted for, despite capturing it in the NELMCO schedule.

He also informed the Committee that some of the properties in Lagos which were taken over by Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) also reflected in the schedule of properties transferred to NELMCO.

Mr Fagbemi, however, disclosed that the company has gotten the approval of National Council on Privatisation (NCP), Federal Ministry of Power to sell 52 assets in the first phase while about 106 assets will be sold in the second phase in a short while.

In a related development, Managing Director/CEO of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Sule Abdulaziz also denied selling any government property or being in possession of any proceeds from the sale.

Abdulaziz informed the Committee that: “TCN was not involved in the sales of Federal Government landed property.

“When the Power Holding Company was privatised, all assets and liabilities were handed over to the Nigerian Electricity Liability Management Company (NELMCO and so, we have no presentation to make.”

Worried by the blatant disregard to the invitations sent to some of the regulatory agencies including, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Nigeria Ports Authority, Bureau for Public Enterprises, Oke directed the clerk of the committee to “do a letter to Mr President, through the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, and the Chief of Staff to the President and attach copies of the invitations to these agencies, and notifying their officers to appear before the Parliament within seven days.”

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