‘They may lose value’ — reps urge EFCC to commence sale of forfeited assets

The house of representatives ad hoc committee on abandoned properties has asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to commence the immediate sale of seized properties forfeited to the federal government. 

Ademorin Kuye, chairman of the committee, stated this on Thursday at the investigative hearing on sales of abandoned properties.

The lawmaker said keeping the properties under the custody of the EFCC for a long time may make them lose value and deteriorate, adding that it would do the country no good.

Kuye noted that if the properties were not sold, it will affect the federal government’s plan to fund part of the 2021 budget from sales of properties.

According to NAN, he asked the anti-graft agency to ensure diligent prosecution of any case involving seized properties, before offering them for sale.

TheCable had reported that the federal government plans to fund part of the N13.59 trillion 2021 budget from the sale of national assets.

In February, Dayo Apata, chairman of the inter-ministerial committee on the disposal of assets forfeited to the federal government, had said the process of selling such assets in 25 locations across the country had commenced.

“The Committee is working assiduously to complete its assignment within the six (6) months’ time frame as spelt out in the presidential directive and is guided by the Asset Tracing, Recovery and Management Regulations, 2019, Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and its Terms of Reference (TOR),” he had said.

Some of the assets to be sold include landed properties, machinery, motor vehicles, jewelry, among other items seized by courts from owners who were said to have acquired them through corrupt means.

In 2019, a federal high court in Lagos ordered the permanent forfeiture of $40 million worth of jewellery seized from the residence of Diezani Alison-Madueke, a former minister of petroleum resources.

In the same year, a court ordered the permanent seizure of $8.4 million (about N3billion) and N9.2 billion, belonging to Patience Jonathan, wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Dews of Hope Hospital, Owerri — a N1.5 billion state-of-the-art 200-bed facility — allegedly linked to an aide of Rochas Okorocha, a former governor of Imo state and serving senator, has also been forfeited to the federal government.