Though a high level warning had been given to the panel chairman, Special Presidential Panel for the Recovery of Public Property (SPPRPP), Mr Okoi Obono-Obla to stop further public interview, some of the key issues he let out the bag on Friday, September 7, 2018, are still unsettled.
One of the issues, apart from recovering the N620bn (about $7bn) being total bailout fund given to about nine stressed commercial banks in the wake of industry crisis between 2006 and 2008 by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), include “recovering a lot of landed property belonging to the Nigerian Ports Authority in Calabar, Warri, Koko, Sapele and Lagos ports”.
Obono-Obla had during the explosive interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said “the panel was also in the process of recovering a large piece encroached upon, parcelled out and sold by unpatriotic people.
“I can assure you that we are going to recover it and prosecute all those who are responsible.
“We are also investigating and in the process of recovering a lot of landed property belonging to the Nigerian Ports Authority in Calabar, Warri, Koko, Sapele and Lagos ports,” SPPRPP chairman said.
Accordingly, his revelation tends to align with the argument of the management of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) during a recent public hearing at the National Assembly with officials of the Lagos State Government on issues relating to missing NPA land found within the Eko Atlantic City (EAC) owned by the state.
Otherwise, since the management of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) engaged officials of the Lagos State Government in a heated debate at the National Assembly, Abuja over the ownership of 11 hectares of land in the upscale EAC, Victoria Island, Lagos, the next apparent mention of the matter can be said to be by Obono-Obla presidential panel.
Business Hilights recalls that the Eko Atlantic City is a planned multibillion dollars choice city of Lagos State being constructed on land reclaimed from the Ahmadu Bello Way Ocean front by a consortium of private sector investors led by David frame, South Energyx Nigeria boss.
Upon completion, the new peninsula, which is still under development, is anticipating at least 250,000 residents and a daily flow of 150,000 commuters.
Already, checks revealed that about three high-rise have been completed and tenants have occupied some while other developments are still ongoing.
The city adjoins Victoria Island district of Lagos and the Phase 1 area of Lekki, to the north, while the entire Western, eastern and southern borders is on the coastline.
Eko Atlantic development is being carried out as a public–private-partnership, with private companies and investors providing the funding, while the Lagos State Government is a ‘strategic partner’.
But, the issue remains that there is a clear case of claims, counter claims and denials of encroachments on portions of land belonging to the NPA land nearing the nation’s flagship seaport of Apapa.
The fact of the case is clear; The NPA officials, led by the Executive Director, Engineering and Technical Services, Prof Idris Abubakar, while speaking at an investigative hearing on alleged financial irregularities in the NPA and the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) organised by the House Committee on Ports, Harbours and Waterways, said in the construction of Eko Atlantic City, the Lagos State Government encroached on 11 hectares of land owned by NPA.
According to him, the land, known as the East Mole, had been owned by NPA since the 1960s long before the Eko Atlantic City project was conceived and that NPA had its navigational aids on the land, which had to be removed to give way to the Eko Atlantic City project.
Corroborating Abubakar, the NPA Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Mohammed Bello-Koko, upheld the claims, revealing that “the Lagos State Government equally encroached on the authority’s landed property in Takwa Bay and issued certificates of occupancy to illegal occupants of 36 acres of its land in Ikorodu”.
However, in his presentation, the Permanent Secretary, Lands Bureau of Lagos State, Bode Agoro, disagreed with the NPA officials, insisting that the Lagos State Government did not, at any point in time, encroach on NPA’s land in Eko Atlantic City.
He denied knowledge of NPA’s ownership of any parcel of land in former Bar Beach turned upmarket property.
Besides, Agoro further denied knowledge of the issuance of Certificates of Occupancy on NPA’s land in Ikorodu.
In his remarks at the hearing, the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Transportation, Dr. Taiwo Salaam, agreed that while Takwa Bay is owed by NPA, the land on which the Lagos State Government carried out a development in the area does not belong to NPA.
However, with the revelation of the Presidential Panel, more issues on the matter will continue to hang pending when the record is put straight either by NPA, Lagos State Government or vide the panel investigations.
