FEC orders sale of confiscated Lagos property by NDLEA
2 min read
Fashola
The Federal Executive Council yesterday approved a directive that buyers of two underpriced public property in Lagos pay the differentials of the real value of the property as at 2021.
The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, said this followed a revelation that the government was short-paid in the transaction on the property seized by officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
He said the property, a four-bedroom bungalow on Adeniyi Jones Lagos and another five-bedroom duplex on Amadasun Street in GRA, Ikoyi, sold for N2m and N5m respectively, were seized by the NDLEA in the course of narcotic prosecution.
He said government now wanted the buyers to pay N18m for the bungalow and N20m for the five-bedroom duplex being the cost at which they were valued in 2001. He said the NDLEA Act of the time gave precedence to the directives from the Ministry of Justice and regulations were made according to powers under the Act.
Fashola said the council approved a policy recommendation to extend the usage life of government assets such as plants, equipment, land, property and machinery.
He said the new recommendation would ensure proper disposal while saving government expenditure as the depreciation threshold for vehicles now changes from four to six years with the approval.
He said a strategic percentage depreciation rate per year was proposed for vehicles with two litre-engines and those above two litres.
He said ministers would be fully involved in the procurement process as they must now sign off requests for valuation of property of their respective ministries, departments and agencies.
