FG Orders Buyers of Seized Drug-Linked Properties to Pay N31m Extra

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday 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 development is coming on the heels of a memo presented to the council by the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, which asserted that government did not get the proper amount for the transaction.

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 disclosed that the properties were sold for N2 million and N5 million respectively in 200, stressing that 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, however, failed to disclose the identities of the buyers as he said they were not contained in the memo to FEC.

Fashola 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 maintained 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.

In his words, “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.”

The minister also announced that the government approved a policy recommendation to extend the usage life of government assets such as plants, equipment, land, property and machinery, adding that the new recommendation will ensure proper disposal while saving government expenditure.

Consequently, 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 stated further  “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.”