The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Wednesday, said its investigations have revealed that many abandoned estates in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, are owned by civil servants
Noting that some of the estates have been abandoned for over 10 years, the anti-graft agency, through its Chairman, Mr. Ola Olukayode, said it has set up a special team that would start visiting such properties.
The EFCC boss spoke at a “Policy Dialogue on the Critical Issues Affecting Nigeria’s Real Estate Ecosystem,” organised by Law Corridor.According to him, though the special task force would kickstart its operation in Abuja, it would equally visit other abandoned estates in various parts of the country.
Insisting that such properties were proceeds of crime, the EFCC Chairman warned lawyers and real estate developers not to lend themselves
as willing tools in the hands of those that engage in money laundering.
“I have set up the team. We will
start visiting all the estates, not only Abuja but across Nigeria. We want to know who owns what.
“It will shock you that some of these estates have been abandoned for 10 to 20 years. They just take it to a level and they abandon it. Nobody knows what is going on.
“What we have been able to gather is that most of these estates were funded by civil servants who have stolen money.
“The moment they leave public service and the money is no longer coming, they abandon the estate. Then, the developer will start looking for investors to support them to complete the project.
“That is one of the things we have discovered in some of these abandoned estates and we have taken the pain to move against some of those estates.
While decrying the level of corruption in the public service, Olukayode wondered how a level 17 officer whose salary is not up to N1million could afford to live in a N500m mansion.
“Yet, nobody asks questions,” he lamented, even as he called for a change of mentality, saying “we have to do something about this credit transactional system” for the country to be able to move forward.
“Look at countries where things work. Here, you buy your cars- cash, you build your house, everything, cash. Everything you do in Nigeria, cash. You buy your suit, cash.
“I mean, come on! We can’t build an economy that way, we can’t! I told them on the floor of the National Assembly.”
Continuing, the EFCC Chairman said: “People complain about the banking industry in Nigeria.
“Do you know that there are banks that we have never had a cause to investigate? Just go into their records.
“There are banks that compliance is topmost in their operations, that we have never had a cause to investigate.
“Meanwhile, there are banks that have been caught with their MDs. There are banks that I have had cause to take over this year.
“Foreign investors come here, they establish banks, and you will go into their books and find clean record.
“There are banks in Nigeria, you take N10m to and it will take you like forever to do documentation before they accept it from you.
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