The Presidential Implementation Committee on Federal Government Landed Property says it has sold the Lagos complex of Federal Radio Corporation, FRCN at the sum of N100 Million Naira.
The Secretary of PIC, Bala Sanusi revealed this to the ad hoc committee set up by House of Reps, to investigate the state of the abandoned Federal Government property across the federation.
The lawmakers were not satisfied with price at which the property was sold, and therefore queried how a building of such size, occupying 387 square meters could be sold at what it called “give-way price.”
Sanusi, however, told the committee that the six-storey building, sitting on 387 square metres of land, was sold as a burnt property in 2010, adding that it was gutted by fire before the sale and was also gutted by fire before it was handed over to the buyers in 2019.
During further interrogation, Sanusi retracted his earlier statement, saying he was not in position to categorically say whether the building was burnt or not, as he was not the secretary of PIC at the time it was sold.
“I will inform this gathering that the mandate of this committee is by the President-in-Council. (The Federal Executive) Council gave us the mandate to lease Federal Government property in Nigeria and outside Nigeria.
“We are not selling, we are leasing and after the expiration of the lease, the property will revert back to the government. The mandate was initially restricted to Lagos. But later, (the) Council expanded the mandate of the committee to other states except the FCT. We have been exercising this mandate for a long time,” Sanusi said.
The 6 storey building located at 45, Martins Street, in Lagos State, which belonged to the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, was sold to Seamens Traders Limited for N100m.
The Director-General of the FRCN, Mansur Liman, who also testified before the committee, informed the ad hoc committee that the property was sold without the corporation’s knowledge.
The Secretary of the PIC, Bala Sanusi, responded that it would be difficult for the presidential panel to inform all the MDAs of its intention to sell or lease out the over 25,000 property handed over to it.
Chairman of the committee, Ademorin Kuye, demanded for comprehensive report of all recovered assets be presented to the lawmakers.
“We want a report on all seized assets from our leaders, particularly Abacha, in and out of Nigeria. We need to know the state of those properties and to also know if the properties have titles,” he requested.