The federal government has approved the setting up of a committee to review, repurpose, privatise or transfer ownership of abandoned and uncompleted government buildings across the country.
This was one of the resolutions arrived Wednesday, at the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting held in Abuja and was presided over by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.
Briefing newsmen after the meeting, Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clement Agba, who said he presented four memoranda on behalf of agencies under the Ministry, pointed out that two of the memoranda were on behalf of the Nigeria Customs Service, both targeted at making the work environment conducive for officers and men of the service.
He said the team to assess the abandoned properties, known as Council on the National Capital Projects Information System, would be chaired by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning.
According to him: “The memo I presented had to do with approval for the creation of a database of National Capital Projects Information System of Government and what this project seeks to take care of is the increasing number of abandoned and uncompleted projects that we have all over the place, which is turning out to be a major drain of funds and represent a waste of the nation’s budget and scarce resources.
“So Council approved the setting up of a team; Council on the National Capital Projects Information System, which involves the key infrastructure ministries. This team will be headed by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning.
“They are to look at and prioritise funds selected projects on a yearly basis for completion. Look at the possibility of maybe privatising some of the projects or transfer of ownership to either state or local government, how to repurpose the projects for alternative use, or completely abandon or dismantle the project and treat those as a sunk cost,” he further explained.
