The Federal Government is considering the relocation of some of its
agencies that are still paying rent on the properties they currently
occupy into some buildings seized from suspected looters.
The
move is part of the guidelines being considered to reduce the high
expenditure on rent and office buildings by the government’s agencies.
The
Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, disclosed this at the opening
of a meeting with members of the National Steering Committee of the
Efficiency Unit.
The Federal Government had last Saturday
released the list of recovered loot made between May 29, 2015 and May
25, 2016 with the document containing a total of 182 completed buildings
and one uncompleted building.
A breakdown of the buildings
showed that 33 buildings were recovered by the Independent Corrupt
Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission, 146 by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission and four by the Office of the National
Security Adviser.
The minister, while lamenting the huge cost
being incurred by the government on residential and office buildings,
said that between 2012 and 2014, an average yearly sum of N3.55bn was
spent on rent by the government.
The Efficiency Unit was set up
by the minister last year to reduce the level of recurrent expenditure
which according to the 2016 budget had an outlay of N2.65tn
The
unit, headed by Mrs. Patience Oniha, was set up to engender transparency
and reduce government’s expenditure through efficiency in procurement
in the various ministries, departments and agencies.
She said
that major savings were being expected in form of discounts from
suppliers when the Bureau of Public Procurement concluded its assignment
on the pooling of MDAs demands for standard products such as vehicles,
computers, printers, photocopiers and stationery.
Adesoun said, “The average annual expenditure on rent for the three year period 2012 to 2014 was N3.55bn.
“The
issuance of price guidelines and initiatives for reducing expenditure
on rent on office and residential buildings will be the primary focus in
the coming months.
“And to achieve that, we are already looking
at using properties that were forfeited from recoveries and moving some
of our agencies to occupy those properties rather than paying rent.”
The
minister, however, called for cooperation from all stakeholders in both
the public and private sector to ensure that Nigerians get value for
money in the spending of government’s resources.
Properties seized by EFCC
-A
house belonging to a former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Mohammed
Umar (retd), located on 1853 Deng Xiano Ping Street, off Mahathir
Mohammed Street, Asokoro extension Abuja. The property is worth N860m.
Umar is in court for alleged N7bn fraud
-A mansion located at 6,
Ogun River Street, Maitama, Abuja, worth N1bn, was recovered from a
former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh (retd.)
A duplex located at 14 Adzope Crescent, Off Kumasi Crescent, Wuse II, Abuja, allegedly belonging to Badeh.
A house worth N260m located at 19 Kumasi Crescent, Wuse II, Abuja, and allegedly belonging to Badeh’s son.
A
shopping mall at Plot 1386, Oda Crescent, Cadastral Zone A07, Wuse II,
Abuja, said to be worth over N870m and allegedly belongs to Badeh.
-A
block of 12 luxury flats located on Agodogba Street, Park View Estate,
Ikoyi, Lagos worth over N1.7bn. The property allegedly belongs to a
former Chief of Accounts and Budgeting of the Nigerian Air Force, Air
Vice Marshal J.B. Adigun
-A block of luxury flats on Sinari
Daranijo Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, worth N1.8bn, was also seized
from Adigun as well as a parcel of land located on Bourdillon Drive,
Ikoyi, worth N908m.
-A set of four terrace houses on Agede
Street, off Aminu Kano in the Wuse 2 area of Abuja was also seized from
Adigun. The worth of the property was not stated.
-A house
located on Adeyemo Alakija Street, GRA Ikeja, near the Ghanaian High
Commission, belonging to the immediate past Chief of Air Staff, Air
Marshal Adesola Amosu (retd.), has also been sealed. It is worth over
N200m.
-A set of houses belonging to Amosu in the Badagry area of Lagos State was also seized.
An
ultra-modern hospital, St. Solomon Health Care Limited, located on
Adeniyi Jones Avenue in Ikeja, Lagos, was also seized from Amosu. It is
said to be worth N85m.