Reps probe FRCN, VON, over sales of FG properties
By Owoleye Oluwakayode
The House of Representatives Adhoc Committee on abandoned federal government properties has quizzed the director generals of Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Mansur Liman, and Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, over the sales and lease of properties belonging to the agencies.
The duo appeared before the committee on Monday as part of its ongoing investigation on the lease and sales of federal government properties located across the country.
Speaking during the investigative hearing, the chairman of the committee, Ademorin Kuye, disclosed that the Adhoc Committee had written to the two agencies through the Special Presidential Investigative Committee on Sale of Abandoned Properties in March 2020, requesting documents on the sales as well as processes and the proceeds.
He said they also requested the pieces of evidence of the valuation of the sold or leased properties as well as hand over documents of the properties to find out the real reason for the sales and leases.
According to him, some of the properties sold or leased include the Lagos Zonal Office of the FRCN, 30 hectares of land in Kano and a property on No 3 Savage Cresent GRA Enugu which is said to be under litigation.
In his submission, the Director-General of FRCN said the agency bought the Lagos property in 2010 from the Special Presidential Committee on Abandoned Properties and later sold it to Seaman Tech Co Ltd Idumota Lagos before it was gutted by fire.
He added that he made some enquiries at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) on the status of the property and had confirmed that the Special Presidential Committee on Abandoned Properties had sold the property. “I made enquiries at the CAC and some names came up. I showed the documents to the honourable Minister and he said that it is a government building and further said he will take it up at the Federal Executive Council FEC,” he said.
Liman further informed the committee that the Enugu property was leased out to Innoson Technical Co Ltd at N20 million and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by the Minister with the leasee.
The Committee’s chairman later constituted a three-man sub-committee to inspect some of the properties belonging to FRCN and VON.
He directed the sub-committee to submit valuation reports, mandates extracts and evidence of remittances to the federation account from the sale.
