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ICPC at Reps Panel Accuses FCDA, REDAN of Swindling Housing Scheme Beneficiaries

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 By Ubong Ukpong, Abuja

The Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, (ICPC), yesterday, accused officials of the Federal Capital Development Authority, (FCDA), of conniving with members of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria, (REDAN), to swindle beneficiaries of the mass housing scheme in the territory.

In his submission at the investigative hearing on the operations of real estate developers in the FCT, ICPC Chairman, Prof Bolaji Owasanoye, said that the land department of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, (FCTA), was conniving with REDAN to swindle Nigerians in the territory.

He said his Commission has received several petitions and complaints from the real estate sector, off-buyers, developers, bothering on forgery, non-delivery of projects, marketing of fake land, fraudulent allocation, and refusal of government to pay fair values for acquired land amongst others.

This is even as the House of Representatives tasked security agencies in the country, to intensify their operations to fish out perpetrators  of all the ongoing sharp practices in the real estate sector.

The ICPC boss said the FCDA has refused to sanitize the real estate sector, even though they know about the sharp practices, “but look the other way.”

The Chairman said from investigations, the developers collected massive land with agreement to pay counterpart funding and develop the houses for intending beneficiaries, but only to turn around and sell the land to the highest bidders.

Owasanoye confirmed that corrupt public officers were using the real estate as vehicle to hide ill-gotten wealth.

He asked that registration of land titles be made compulsory, so as to know the proper owners of the estates so that public officers do not continue to hide behind third party to acquire illegal properties.

The ICPC boss said many of the estate houses in Abuja were actually used for money laundering, which explained why the houses were left unoccupied even years after completion.

“The ICPC has over the years received a number of petitions since inception. Even though we have not aggregated the numbers that relate to land matters, 

“We have however received a number of petitions from stakeholders in the real estate and housing sector, off-takers, prospective buyers and the general public regarding the behavior and antics of real estate developers within the FCT and sometimes outside of the FCT on this very important subject matter. 

“These complaints and petitions are varied. They bother on forgery, the cloning of land documents, double or multiple land allocations, allocation of land without the minister’s approval, revocation of land title without due process, non-delivery of projects, embezzlement of sourced capital, land racketeering, the use of land syndicates and speculators, the marketing of fake layouts, fraudulent allocation of land, inordinate delay in processing of land documents for those who subscribe to their projects, general abuse of office, bribery, dishonesty, fraud, payment scams, or the refusal of government itself to pay fair value for acquired land and the concomitant refusal of settlers and traditional owners to give access to legitimate land beneficiaries and other related issues and challenges.

“Our investigations have led to the recovery of assets and funds, which are either considered to have been diverted that were retrieved in the public interest. In some situations, we have simply ensured that the projects that contemplated were delivered to the beneficiaries who had paid for them. 

“Furtherance to the above conducted a systems study and review of mass housing delivery in the FCT in 2010 and 2011 where it was discovered that members of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN), who had been allocated huge plots of land for mass housing development in the FCT in collaboration with the Federal Government through the Federal Mortgage Bank and its responsibility to provide infrastructure upon which the allocations were made to them, and they were to work with National Housing Fund contributors. These developers failed in the payment of counterpart funding and the delivery of infrastructure to project site and rather they resorted to offering and selling the plots to the highest bidder contrary to the policy. 

“The subsequent pressure this put on low and middle income earners is that it becomes a push factor for public sector corrupting public servants who are desperate for their own homes to subvert the processes, government policies and abuse their office for private gain in order to meet the desire for decent housing.

“In a related vein, corrupt public officers use real estate investment as vehicle for hiding ill gotten wealth and money laundering. Public officers acquire estates in pseudonyms to conceal the illegal origin of funds.” 

However, Chairman REDAN, Aliyu Wamakko, disowned all those fingered in the said sharp practices, saying that they were not REDAN members.

While Wamakko gave a list of his members in the FCT as 223, insisting that he knew all of them to be of impeccable character, the EFCC said it has established a list of 1000 members of REDAN in the FCT already, while the FCTA land department claimed a list of 181, the discrepancy which led the Hon Blessing Onoche Onuh-led  ad-hoc committee to order REDAN to produce its membership register in the territory.

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Yuletide: Bode George Urges Tinubu to Reduce Petrol Price

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Chief Bode George, a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has urged President Bola Tinubu to reduce the price of petrol   to N300 per litre ,to make things easy for Nigerians during the festive season.

George, the Atona Oodua of Yorubaland, made this plea at an interactive session with newsmen on Wednesday in Lagos.

The price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, is currently above N1,000 per litre.

According to the elder statesman,Nigerians  are going through hardship, the President should give an order to reduce fuel price, specifying time frame the people will enjoy such window of relief.

He said that the federal government as well as well- meaning individuals and businesses could bear the cost of such price slash , to bring happiness to all Nigerians.

The PDP leader, who noted that December and January are  special months , said that such gesture could start from the  middle of December and run through January.

“I have been thinking, as a Nigerian, what can we do because the anger and the hunger are almost equal on the streets of Nigeria.

“What am I suggesting is that Mr President should sit down with his managers and give an order that from the middle of December to the end of January, the cost of petrol will be N300 per litre.

“The government can absorb the losses in the interest of the suffering people.

“If they (government) want others to contribute, let us know how much that is going to cost and ask people to donate, to bear the cost.

“We will be sending a lot of messages of happiness across the tribes and homes.

“Everybody in Nigeria will be happy because it will positively impact on this period of the year. It is a challenge and he (Tinubu) can do it.

“We need this in this December and January to put smiles on the faces of Nigerians, ” George, a PDP Board of Trustees (BOT) life member, said.

Advising the President to take further measures to bring relief to the people, he said that the gesture would crash prices of essential commodities and services for the benefit of all .

He said that government’s efforts should be concentrated on reducing high inflation rate, unemployment, poverty and youth restlessness  in order to create a better future for Nigerians

Speaking on the recent presidential election in Ghana, George noted that Nigeria’s electoral system  needed reforms to guard against electoral frauds and manipulations.

According to him, the nation will continue to grope for development if the system fails to encourage best candidates  to emerge.

Stating that election must reflect the wishes of the people and be devoid of  religious and tribal sentiments, George said that Ghana election should be a wake up call for Nigeria.

“INEC performance must improve. The commission must make sure that the voice of the people is  heard in elections.

“Electoral offenders should be made to face the music and sent to jail. We must be very firm about due process, credibility and transparency in elections,” he said.

Urging the President to revisit resolutions in the 2014 Constitutional Conference, George said that the current constitution was not federal in principle and practice.

“We should not deceive ourselves, the constitution is a problem. It is a military constitution, it is not democratic,” he said.

George called on the National Assembly to ensure devolution of powers and electoral reforms that would do away with manual collation of election results and mandate electronic transmission of election results from polling units.

George disagreed with political watchers saying no  vacancy in  presidency in 2027.

On the dwindling strength of the former ruling party, George, who noted that all organisations had its ups and downs, said that selfish interests and disregard for  party rules remained PDP’s major challenge.

He said that PDP could bounce back and win presidential election if the leadership decided to elevate national interest above selfish interests and adhere to the party’s constitution.

“We will tell ourselves some serious old truth. We messed ourselves  up. ” he said.

Stating, however, that the PDP was not dead, George said that lack of justice, equity, fairness and the inability to adhere to the  party’s zoning and rotational principle cost the party victory in 2023.

Calling on the party’s founding fathers alive to wake up and rescue the party, George said that Nigerians were still waiting for the former ruling party to take over power and put things right. (NAN)

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Tinubu Set for Groundbreaking of Renewed Hope City in Lagos 

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President Bola Tinubu, is set to perform the  groundbreaking of 2,000 housing units of the Renewed Hope City in Ibeju Lekki, Lagos, in the next few weeks.

Mr Ahmed Dangiwa, Minister of Housing and Urban Development, announced this during an official assessment visit, on Wednesday in Lagos

Dangiwa said Lagos would represent the South-west, while the president would do that of the North-West in Kano, before doing that of the four other regions.

“Arrangements is already on ground, we have gotten sites, and work has commenced for 2000 houses in the Renewed Hope City that we intend to build in Ibeju-Lekki,” he said.

Towards achieving the set goal, the minister said the visiting team also paid a courtesy visit to Gov.

Babajide Sanwo-Olu to discuss area of collaboration between the federal and state governments.

He disclosed that the federal and Lagos state governments had agreed to set up a Tripartite committee and ensure all the issues of concerns between the parties were resolved amicably for the benefit of all.

Earlier, the Minister embarked on an assessment visit of deplorable Federal Government buildings and assets across Lagos state in a bid to commence rehabilitation on them in a few months.

Dangiwa said the rehabilitation was necessary as the deplorable buildings posed a challenge and security concerns to the Lagos state government. (NAN)

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Gov. Alia Presents N550.1bn as 2025 Budget Estimate to Benue Assembly 

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Gov. Hyacinth Alia on Wednesday presented the sum of N550.1bn as the 2025 appropriation bill to the Benue State House of Assembly for consideration and passage into law.

Alia told the lawmakers that out of the total budget size, N175.4 billion is for recurrent expenditure while the N374.

7 billion is for capital expenditure.

The governor said that the total estimate represented a 47.

5  per cent increment over the 2024 revised and approved figure of N373 billion.

He stated that the appropriation bill tagged “Budget of Human Capital Development, Food Security, and Digital Economy” was to consolidate the gains made in 2024.

Alia further explained that the proposed recurrent expenditure of N175.

4 billion was 13.55 per cent higher than the previous year.

According to him, budgeted capital expenditure of N374.7 billion represents a 71.5 per cent increment on the 2024 revised capital expenditure.

“The budget breakdown indicated that the sum of N212.2 billion, representing 38.52 per cent is for administration; N196.6 billion, representing 35.68 per cent is for the economy; law and justice will take N26.6 billion, representing 4.84 per cent while social welfare will gulp N115.5 billion, representing 20.96 per cent.

“We have the vision. We have the will. And most importantly, we have the people ready to work alongside us to turn this vision into reality.

“Together, we will build a state where every citizen has the opportunity to succeed, where food is plentiful, and where the digital economy opens new frontiers of opportunity for all,” he said.

The governor said the intention of the government was to stay within the limits of its recurring revenue to build the state without accruing unnecessary debts for generations unborn.

He, however, said that since the 2025 budget was a deficit one, it proposed a borrowing plan of a conservative sum of N26bn, representing a modest 4.7 per cent of the proposed aggregate expenditure for 2025.

“This is lower than the state’s debt-to-GDP ratio of 8.2 per cent which is within the benchmark of the 25 per cent debt sustainability threshold.

“Despite these favourable debt ratios, I want to reiterate that borrowing will only be considered as a last resort and for regenerative investment purposes,” he added.

Alia stated that the problem of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) remained a challenge, adding that they have reasonably improved their living conditions.

He said the Bureau of International Cooperation and Development has elicited substantial grants from donors, totalling N85bn. (NAN)

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