The relocation of the seat of the Federal Government from Lagos to Abuja in 1991 left scores of properties abandoned in the mega city. Assistant Editor SINA FADARE reports that more than 20 years after, these buildings have become havens for criminals
Passing through the end of Broad Street, No 147 Marina, Lagos is a gigantic building that easily attracts attention of passersby. The five-storey building on the left, while going to Marina from the UBA Headquarters axis, has been abandoned by the Federal Government for about 11 years.
The Nation gathered that the building which housed the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing for many years until it relocated to Abuja in 1991 was allegedly confiscated from the father of the late Nkemba of Nnewi, Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu by the Federal Government. When the ministry moved to the new federal capital, the building was handed over to the National Dental Council of Nigeria for use and council did occupy it for many years until it too, relocated to Abuja.
With the departure of the Dental Council, the building became vacant but one of the comptrollers in the Ministry of Works, it was learnt, decided to put the building to personal use by handing it over to one of his wives simply identified as Mama Aanu to manage. Husband and wife were allegedly assisted by a Director in the Ministry to perfect the conversion of the building into a residential quarter as the place was demarcated into rooms with Mama Aanu as the Landlady.
A tenant, Mrs. Munirat Abdulrasak, who lived in the building for five years before they were eventually booted out on December 15, 2013 by a Presidential Task Force from Abuja, confessed to The Nation that though they (the tenants) knew that Mama Aanu was not the real owner of the property, but she was very powerful and influential. She explained that there were about fifty rooms in the building and each tenant was paying N3,500 per month. The building, which was being referred to in the place as ‘barrack,’ also has two big warehouses that were let out to some traders.
It was gathered that the last rent paid by the tenants of the warehouses created the crisis that led to the ejection of all the illegal tenants. It was alleged that Mama Aanu collected N2.5 million yearly as rent from each tenant. However, trouble started when touts known as Area Boys who were around the place approached her for their own share of the rent but she refused. Some of them who were political thugs to prominent Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members in the area was said to have complained to their principal and a petition was sent to Abuja about the property. This eventually led to the forceful ejection of all the illegal tenants, including Mama Aanu.
Investigations revealed that such abandoned buildings that costs billions of naira of public fund are scattered all over Lagos and have either been taken over by rodents, reptiles and similar animals or occupied by miscreants and other criminals. One of such buildings that has become an eyesore and a major source of worry to residents of the area is the old Federal Secretariat in Ikoyi. The secretariat built by the federal military government of General Yakubu Gowon in 1975 and which housed the bulk of government bureaucracies until the movement to Abuja in 1991 has been left unoccupied ever since, leaving the imposing structures to gradually deteriorate. In year 2006, the Federal Government through the then Minister of Housing, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, the present governor of Ondo State, moved to bring life back to the secretariat when it attempted to concession the twin-towers out to a private firm, Resort International Limited (RIL) for N7.2 billion.
The Nation learnt that the new owners wanted to convert the structure to apartments suitable for residential usage, a step which the Lagos State government rebuffed with an argument that the place was not originally designed as a residential area. These irreconcilable differences dragged all the stakeholders, the Federal Government, Lagos State government and RIL to Lagos High Court. The matter is still going on.
Against this backdrop, the imposing building is now abandoned and turned to the den of the area boys.
When The Nation visited the place recently, the level of decay on the building was obvious. But, that was not the only problem. Now, operators of commercial tricycles or Keke Marwa have also turned the building into their park. Speaking to The Nation, a petrol attendant who did not want his name to be mentioned said that all sorts of dubious businesses like selling of hard drugs, such as India hemp and other illicit drugs are conducted in the place, under the covers of darkness. Speaking in the same vein, Alhaji Muraina Adeyanju, a resident in the area said that on many occasions, the police have raided the place. “It is a den of robbers. They are always here to do their meetings; you will hear the sound of vehicles going in and out of the building at odd hours. The truth of the matter is that we have never known peace since this place has been abandoned.” He explained that at the Community Development Association (CDA) level, “we have tried our best to complain to the police, but the situation is the same. These hoodlums converge here at the dawn of night, we are helpless.”
However, speaking on what could have informed the legal tussle over the imposing property, a Chartered Quantity Surveyor, Mr. Sola Babatunde opined that, at the time of the concession, it was grossly undervalued, a situation which the Lagos State government was not comfortable with. Babatunde also alleged that there was a political colouration to the entire bidding process, adding that the property was given to those who were close to the citadel of power in Abuja, then at a below the market rate. “If that building is going to be valued as of today, putting into cognizance the choice area of the title, it cannot be less that N15 billion.”
Another monumental waste is the National Provident Fund (NPF) territorial office building, located in Ojo Local Government area of Lagos State. It was nearing completion when the Federal Government relocated to Abuja. Since then, all works on the building have stopped. The Nation investigation revealed that the building project was recommended to be awarded to CEDAC Nigeria, a firm of building contractors in 1983 for the sum of N41.6 million, which was considered as undervalued by building experts. However, when the construction reached its final level of twenty-storey, an order reportedly came ‘from the above’ that work should be suspended, as the original interest was that the project should be built in the Federal Capital Territory. This singular order ended a lofty dream of an edifice, thereby forcing the building to swell the number of abandoned projects.
Regretting what the government inaction has caused the people of the area, one of the executive members of the Landlord Association who spoke to The Nation on condition of anonymity said that majority of their children have been recruited into the world of crime, with the building as their training ground. “On several occasions, the police have traced stolen goods to this place and a lot of the children were arrested as accomplices. The situation was so pathetic; the government should either complete the project or sell it to those who will convert it to productive venture. We are daily living in fear.”
Another building that gulped millions of naira of the tax payers’ money, but was equally abandoned, was the NITEL Central Store, located at Wemco road, Ogba area of Lagos state.
Investigations revealed that during the good old days of NITEL, the building served all the Southwest territory of the behemoth as the central store. When The Nation visited the area, the premises was under lock with a big key. Today, the entrance of the building has been converted to another Keke Marwa Park. The flower that was planted in the premises has turned into a thick bush that harbours snakes and rodents. Regretting, how one of the nation’s properties is in ruin and government could not do anything about it; a middle-aged man who resides in Oluwole community, opposite the building, Mr Olabisi Ipoola said, he is always sad anytime he passes through the front of the building. He explained that before the place was under lock, it had served as a den of criminals and their hideout during the night. “Most of the stolen goods were hidden in the compound of that building until the vigilante within the community took the case to Ogba police station. That was why you see that the place has been padlocked.”
Ipoola expressed fear that danger might not be over yet because since the tricycle operators are using the entrance of the premises as their parking space, all sort of clandestine meetings are held there almost on a daily basis by hoodlums who are usually loitering around the place at night. “Most of the time, innocent people have lost their cars and other valuables to these night marauders, virtually every week. It is a sad tale to narrate and it seems the police are helpless,” he said.
Sharing her own ugly experience with The Nation, a beer and “pepper soup joint” operator in the community who simply identified herself as Madam Shade, said it is no longer news that the abandoned NITEL building is a hideout for criminals, who are terrorising the community. “Twice, l was a victim. My shop was raided and all the money l made for those days were carted away, it was a painful experience,” she lamented. Other properties that have become a source of concern to Nigerians due to their abandonment are Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), building on Marina Street, Defence building, which got burnt and plans to fully rehabilitate it has fallen apart, the former National Assembly Complex at Tafawa Balewa Square, 37-storey NECOM House on Marina Street, Glass House located at Okesuna Street, which also once housed the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing; the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Complex in Ikoyi as well as the former Supreme Court building – all in Lagos Island.
Lamenting about the implication of gross wastage in the midst of scarcity, the former President of Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Mr. Bode Adediji said, “Nigeria has been living in a culture of endemic waste, whether in terms of property or other resources. We have not been prudent in the way we manage assets and resources. The dynamics of properties, in terms of their acquisition, development, utilisation and management are beyond the comprehension and husbandry of the present cadre of civil servants.” According to him, government should set up a consortium of building and environment professionals to investigate the remaining assets belonging to the Federal Government and to ascertain current structural state and degree of their utilisation, the potentials inherent in these properties, their let ability or outright disposal.
Speaking in the same vein, the chairman, Lagos branch of NIESV, Mr Steven Jagun, explained that though the cost value of these properties cannot be ascertained, it will run into billions of naira and a source of fund generation to the Federal Government, instead of total abandonment. Jagun, who regretted the poor maintenance culture of properties of government in general in the country, argued that, “if the Federal Government could no longer maintain the properties in question, there are a lot of other valuable use they can be turned into, which at the end of the day will generate fund for the government and at the same time provide social services like big mall, international conference centres and amusement park.”
He pointed out that the Federal Government needs to do something fast because property depreciates if it is abandoned for years, adding that it is a veritable venture to provide employment opportunity for teeming Nigerian youths who are roaming the streets in search of employment.
When The Nation went to the Federal Ministry of Lands and Housing in Lagos, the Comptroller Mr. Olayinka Onaeko, said the ministry was equally worried that those properties were abandoned for many years, adding that, “It is not good for buildings to be abandoned and we have told the government about this as professionals.” Onaeko explained that gradually some of the properties are being disposed off and in some cases where illegal occupants were there “we are ejecting them, a case study is the property at 147 Broad street and the old NITEL building at Marina.” The Comptroller said there is a Presidential Implementation Committee set up by the government to dispose all these properties, adding that the committee is working round the clock to do its job, the exceptions are those that there are litigations on them, like the old Federal Secretariat.
