Criminal attempt to stop FHA management from recovery of FG’s landed assets

The Daily Trust newspaper edition of 12th September 2017 has published a sponsored article meant to discredit the current FHA management’s effort at fighting corruption and recovery of government assets of hundreds of houses and plots of land that were diverted by some criminal elements; with the aid of a few unpatriotic staff of the […]

The Daily Trust newspaper edition of

12th September 2017 has published

a sponsored article meant to

discredit the current FHA management’s

effort at fighting corruption and recovery

of government assets of hundreds of

houses and plots of land that were diverted

by some criminal elements; with the aid

of a few unpatriotic staff of the Federal

Housing Authority (FHA). The said article

written by one Mr. Najakku contained

nothing but fabricated lies and distortions;

targeted against the management of the

FHA, with the ultimate call on government

to dissolve the management team headed

by Professor Mohammed Al-Amin; for lack

of focus, integrity and capacity to deliver

on the mandate of the Agency.

While several issues were twisted in

order to deceive unsuspecting readers

and change the current narratives of the

giant and positive efforts in the Agency,

the FHA management is undaunted on its

resolve to sanitize the system, hence, see

no reason to bother with the blackmails

carried by the Daily Trust; if not for the

need to straighten the facts as they are;

which the criminals were trying to cover

up.

GENESIS OF THE AGITATION

The struggle between the FHA

management and these elements dated

back to August 2015 when the Al-Amin

led management decided to overhaul

the FHA documentation and record

keeping through computerization of its

operations and especially the vital data

in property files. This was seen by some

element within and outside the FHA

as a bid to expose their corruption and

mismanagement.

It is interesting to know that prior to

the computerization exercise, several

information regarding vital documents

and property titles were scattered across

offices and held by numerous individual

staff; which was fertile ground for the

criminal manipulations of those elements.

Simple exercise of issuance of certifiedtrue-

copies of clients’ property documents

can last for months and sometime years.

Cases of missing files abound, difficulty

in obtaining approval of any type was

countless. Complains of double allocations

or illegal annexations were rampant. The

need to introduce rescue measure became

absolutely necessary.

A Central Land and Property Registry

(CLPR) was therefore created through the

merger of the ICT unit and the moribund

registry. The new CLPR was domiciled

in the office of the Chief Executive for

effective control. Computer soft and

hardware were provided; with the ultimate

aim at digitising the entire FHA records

and operations. Apart from the assured

availability of data and information on

all properties, it was also to serve as the

platform through which enhanced services

within short period will be achieved; by the

use of one-stop-shop operations regarding

approvals and enquiries. A section of the

Head office was reserved, refurbished

and fortified as the new CLPR. The

offices were fitted with modern security

and safety gadgets to ensure water-tight

preservation of the vital documents in the

new registry. The management also took

time to enlighten the entire workforce

of the agenda to transit from analogue

to computer-based and ultimately to

digitised system of operations. It was a

welcome idea to almost all staff of the

agency; with the exception of a very few

elements that became concerned on the

outcome, as the system could expose their

sharp practices or at least prevent them

from “business as usual”.

When their lobby to stop the project

failed, they resorted to pressure and

mobilisation of other staff against the

project. When that failed, they took a

last resort of blackmail; in which they

anonymously wrote a petition to the ICPC

demanding the arrest and probe of the

Al-Amin led FHA management and the

key staff handling the digitisation project.

Curiously, the allegations levelled against

the Al-Amin led management way back

in October 2015 were EXACTLY the same

with those published on page 42 of Daily

Trust of 12th September, 2017; which are:

1. That the Al-Amin led management

is busy enriching itself through corrupt

practices instead of building houses for the

agency, citing fabricated stories of sales of

the FHA water stations.

2. That the Al-Amin led management

was accused of converting Gwarinpa

green areas into plots and selling to the

highest bidders through cronies.

3. That the Al-Amin led management is

serving the PDP through sale of Karsana

estate and donating the entire proceed to

the re-election bid of the PDP.

4. That the Al-Amin led management

had failed to unite the workforce

on a positive direction; instead had

factionalised the FHA on religious and

tribal divides.

5. That the management is

implementing a secret agenda to sell the

FHA to some predetermined members of

the PDP.

6. And all the rest contained in the

recent publication of the Daily Trust.

It took the ICPC four months of

meticulous investigations and probe of

the FHA management and eventually

gave it a clean certificate of exoneration

from any blame vide a letter to the

Managing Director No: ICPC/CH/SIT.

HOU/026 dated the 16th of February,

2016. Furthermore, impressed with the

level of transparency in the FHA and the

new measures introduced to guard against

sharp practices in housing delivery, the

ICPC requested for collaboration with the

FHA in solving the incessant problems

of cheating and duping of Nigerians in

Diaspora on their bid to own houses in

Nigeria. This collaboration has now given

birth to multi-billion dollar FHA Diaspora

Housing Project that targets attracting

FOREX to the tune of 5 Billion Dollars

annually for six years; starting from this

year.

WHY THE CURRENT AGITATION?

An answer to this is simply the

successes recorded in the computerisation

project of the FHA. The pilot project on

Gwarinpa Estate is almost completed. At

present, all of the FHA houses in Gwarinpa

are fully captured in the computer registry.

Situation update on each and every

house in Gwarinpa is now a matter of

one computer click. Any required data

regarding house types, design status,

engineering specifications. Payment

records, ownership status, land use and

plot sizes etc are all computerised.

On the course of this exercise however,

startling and shocking revelations/

discoveries were made as follows:

1. Over 500 houses of questionable

ownership status.

2. Two Hundred and thirty houses

without property files.

3. Unremitted or untapped revenue

payment of almost four billion naira

(N4000,000,000:00)

4. Land use malpractices, illegal

land allocation/plots grabbing and double

allocations affecting more than one

hundred (100) undeveloped plots.

In order to complete the exercise and have full record of the entire houses and lands, a verification exercise has to be embarked upon. This was however seen by “the clique” as a witch-hunt mounted against them. They therefore decided to stop the finalisation of the exercise by all means.

The first step of the verification was to issue media adverts inviting claimants of the affected properties to present original copies of their ownership documents for verification. The second stage is to deliver individual letters of demand to submit those documents for verification. The third step is to publish the details of the affected properties on pages of national dailies and demand the claimants to honour the invitation within a certain period. After which the affected properties are to be reverted to the ownership of government and offered to interested members of the public.

The FHA management needed the approval of its Board of Directors or its supervising ministry (in lieu of the Board) before it could implement the third stage. This took seven months before the approval was granted; due to the subterranean lobby and/or pressure by “the clique” against the grant of the approval. It took an “out-of-the box” measure to eventually secure the approval.

After the newspaper publication and the expiration of the two months, about 35% of the affected properties were cleared. The remaining 65% were almost certain were a criminal attempt to short-change the federal government and the Nigerian citizen of their assets. The need to bring in the appropriate security and law enforcement agencies to help the FHA in the recovery became expedient. 

THE LAST STRAW:

In the last four months, the relevant security and law enforcement agencies have been working with the FHA for the final step in the recovery of these public assets. And for these four months, the FHA management is struggling to contain the various machinations of “the clique” that are bent on forcing the reversal of the process. In this month of September alone, three futile attempts were made to force the FHA management to rescind from the process. In the first week, an anonymous threat message was send to the Managing Director demanding him to withdraw the list of the properties sent to the security/law enforcement agencies or risk his job and even his life. Few days after, an attempt was made to infiltrate the FHA staff Union by these criminals to mobilize the work force for a revolt against the Al-Amin led management; through circulating the same fake information that was published by Daily Trust of 12th September, 2017. 

The FHA management was quick at engaging the staff union and made to realise the infiltration attempt. They were eventually and successfully isolated from the unions, and a joint resolution condemning them was signed and issued.

Frustrated by their inability to keep their threat of making the FHA ungovernable by the Al-Amin led management, these evil group resorted to identifying the right person and newspaper that could do their evil bidding, and found favour in Mr.Najakku and the Daily Trust.

CONCLUSION:

Needless to address each of the lies contained on page 42 of the Daily Trust of 12th Sept. 2017; as the ICPC has dealt with that almost two years ago, members of the public are however notified that it was an attempt to tarnish the image of the FHA and especially the integrity of the Managing Director in person of Professor Mohammed Al-Amin. 

Neither the FHA management nor the Managing Director are perturbed by the slander and blackmail of these criminals and their insiders in the FHA. Al-Amin or no Al-Amin, both the computerisation exercise as well as the recovery process have reached irreversible stage. This therefore is to call on all Nigerians to be wary of these criminals and their evil agenda. It is also to assure all, that no amount of blackmail or propaganda will stop the recovery process. 

NO SURRENDER, NO GOING BACK!!!

 

Public Affairs Department of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Abuja