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The House of Representatives has moved to investigate over 11,800 abandoned landed properties and buildings belonging to the Federal Government across Nigeria, estimated to be worth more than N20 trillion.
The resolution followed a motion during Wednesday’s plenary session.
Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda, cited a report by the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, which as of August 23, 2021, identified 11,866 abandoned government properties nationwide, representing about 63 percent of federal building projects initiated since independence.
The lawmaker lamented that the development amounts to a “colossal waste of national resources,” with many of the structures deteriorating due to neglect.
Among the notable projects listed are the Federal Secretariat Complex, Ikoyi, Lagos; Nigerian International Hotel Building, Suleja, Niger State; Millennium Tower, Abuja; National Library, Abuja; Nigerian Newsprint Manufacturing Company, Oku Iboku; Kaduna Textile Building; Nigerian Aluminium Smelting Company, Delta State; and several livestock and agricultural processing centres across the country.
He expressed concern that the Presidential Implementation Committee (PIC) on Federal Government Landed Properties, set up under former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2000, had yet to submit its official report 25 years after, a situation he said, jeopardises transparency and accountability in managing public assets.
The motion further noted that the value of many of the properties has depreciated due to inflation and outdated engineering designs, and urged the government to consider Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements to revive and repurpose some of the abandoned assets.
The Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, ruled that a special ad hoc committee be constituted to review the 2000 PIC report, verify the status of all abandoned properties since then, and make recommendations within six weeks.
The motion was unanimously adopted by the House.
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