FG to relocate its ministries to properties recovered from looters

 

Several federal Ministries, Agencies and Departments (MDA) are to be relocated into looted properties recovered from corrupt public officials in Nigeria.


The plans were announces by Kemi Adeosun, the minister of finance, during briefing with journalists following the Steering Committee of the Efficiency Unit meeting on Friday in Abuja. So far, the government has reportedly recovered billions of naira in cash and properties.

And while the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers had been advocating for utilisation of confiscated properties the federal decided to take advantage of the situation and use them in order to reduce.

Mrs Adeosun said: “The issuance of price guidelines and initiatives for reducing expenditure on rent on office and residential buildings will be the primary focus areas of the efficiency unit in coming months.

You may want to know that the average annual expenditure on rent for a three year period of 2012 to 2014 was N3.55 billion. And to achieve that, we are already looking at using properties that were forfeited from recoveries and moving some of our agencies to occupy those properties rather than paying rent.”

According to Mrs. Adeosun, the Efficiency Unit had already recorded success in cutting government overhead expenses in areas such as travels, welfare, honorarium, sitting allowance, training, adverts and publicity as well as refreshments.

“Major savings are expected when on-going engagement with the Bureau of Public Procurement on the pooling of MDAs demands for standard products such as vehicles, computers, diesel and others.

We plan to secure large discounts from suppliers and the issuance of Price Guidelines are developed and implemented. Price Guidelines will ensure uniformity in the price at which MDAs purchase items, as well as transparency and value for money in the procurement process,” she added.

The government has established an Efficiency Unit (E-Unit) to monitor its agencies and review all government overhead expenditure, to reduce wast​age​, promote efficiency and ensure quantifiable savings for the country.

The minister of finance, head of service of the federation, accountant-general of the federation, auditor-general of the federation and director, budget office of the federation are members of the committee.