By Cross Udo
The Federal Government yesterday said that the buyer of the two real estate properties confiscated for drug-related offences in Lagos State in 2001, will now pay the Lagos state government the full valuation price of the assets.

The new valuation of N18m and N20m would be paid for the properties earlier purchased for N5m and N2m respectively.

The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the weekly Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The minister said the new directive followed a memo that revealed that the government was underpaid in the 21-year-old transaction.

The properties, a four-bedroom bungalow on Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja, Lagos, and a five-bedroom duplex on Amadasun Street, Ikoyi GRA in Lagos State were seized by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in the course of a narcotics prosecution.

Fashola explained that the government has now mandated the buyer to pay N18m for the bungalow and N21m for the five-bedroom duplex being the cost at which they were valued in 2001.

He, however, refused to disclose the identity of the buyer and the narcotic dealer who the NDLEA confiscated the properties from.

According to him, “They were properties sold as a result of prosecution for narcotics by NDLEA. So, they were proceeds of drug crimes, but the valuation process followed the NDLEA Act instead of the Financial Regulations Act. So essentially, those policy proposals were approved by the government.

“The addresses of the properties, the first one is a four-bedroom bungalow with two room boys’ quarters at Adeniyi Jones in Ikeja Lagos, and the other one was a five-bedroom duplex with two room boys’ quarters at Amadasun Street, GRA Ikoyi, so they were sold for N5m and N2m respectively in 2001.

“At that time, the valuation we got was that if they were properly valued, they should have been sold for N18m and N20m respectively.”

Lassa fever: 909 cases confirmed as death toll hits 170 in 25 states

He noted that the NDLEA Act of the time gave precedence to the directives from the Ministry of Justice, adding that regulations were made according to powers under the Act.

He said, “But they did not take cognizance of the procurement law and the financial regulations of the time.

“So, we are now saying, going forward, the financial regulations must take precedence. So, 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 the disposal of assets that have been forfeited to the government. They must be subject to one superior procedure.”

Fashola further said that the government approved a policy recommendation to extend the usage life of government assets such as plants, equipment, land, property, and machinery.

The new recommendation, he explained would ensure proper disposal while saving government expenditure.

He said, “The purpose of the policy memorandum was to seek better enforcement of the financial regulations of the government, especially the revised 2009 regulations with regards to valuation process for plants, equipment, land, property and machinery, and also how they are disposed of when they reach the end of life.

“This policy is premised on Executive Order 11 that enthrones maintenance as a conscious government policy. And we think that because of that, government assets should last longer than the life cycle usually prescribed in the existing financial regulations, such as four years and nine years for other classes of machinery.

“The other context behind the policy was also to help the government manage expenditure in the face of revenue challenges on certain items of governance. For example, if you slow down the depreciation policy on vehicles, your replacement rate slows down as well.”

The minister also said with the new approval, the depreciation threshold for vehicles changes from four to six years.

Man, 31 bags life imprisonment for raping minor in Ekiti

Besides, he said plant and machinery would also have a 10-year depreciation period instead of the existing time frame in the financial regulation.

He said the ministry proposed a strategic percentage depreciation rate per year for vehicles with two litre engines and those above two litres.

To ensure proper accountability, Fashola said Ministers will now be fully involved in the procurement process as they must now sign off requests for the valuation of properties of their respective ministries, departments, and agencies.

He said, “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 the acquisition of some type of assets. Essentially, the council approved all of the policy recommendations. They should go to the Ministry of Finance, who is in charge of making the financial regulations to effect the necessary regulation.”