Legal tussle threatens Enugu houses for police officers

Ebere Amaraizu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) and spokesman of the police in Enugu State at the Command Headquarters, exudes confidence in the ability of the current leadership of the force to deliver the ongoing housing project for police officers in the state as part of its housing policy. The project, he said, will […]

Ebere Amaraizu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) and spokesman of the police in Enugu State at the Command Headquarters, exudes confidence in the ability of the current leadership of the force to deliver the ongoing housing project for police officers in the state as part of its housing policy. The project, he said, will be commissioned in the next few weeks by the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Solomon Arase.
Thousands of police officers in the country are enrolled in the Police Housing Scheme which is partly financed by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) and developed by private firms through the Private Public Partnership (PPP) agreement intended to make them proud owners of homes in cities of their choice. In Enugu, serving officers and men who are beneficiaries of the first phase of the scheme are excited by the prospect of owning a new home before retirement. This will save them hardship when many years of active service take their toll.
Despite Amaraizu’s optimism, the dream of many police officers and their families in Enugu and elsewhere now hangs in the balance. The housing project is now under threat of being stalled or terminated due to the legal tussle between Oak Development Limited and First Rotech Group of Companies Ltd on the true ownership of an existing PPP agreement with the police for the building of the new estate.
Trouble started sometime in June, 2015 when bulldozers of First Rotech Group of Companies were sighted on the site of the estate at the Four Corners area of Ozalla, Akegbe Ugwu in Enugu State.
 “When we went to the site the people were very hostile. They said they were the right people handling the contract. They were even guarded by police officers,” says Architect Chiago Anago, a staff of Oak Development Limited.
While efforts were on to resolve the dispute through correspondence, meetings with the panel of the Nigeria Police Force Property Development and Construction Company Ltd, First Rotech intensified work on the site, which Ifeanyi Anago, Oak’s counsel said “was meant to foist a ‘fait accompli’ on us.”
To prevent the continuation of the work to an irreversible stage, Oak approached an Enugu High Court seeking an injunction to stop the work. The firm also filed for arbitration at the Abuja Multi Door Courthouse (AMDC).
In the claims now before the AMDC, Oak invokes Article 27 on Mutual Non-Circumvention of its agreement with the Nigeria Police to make claims for a total sum of N3.1 billion against the Force for damages arising from breach/repudiation of the non-circumvention agreement, cost of professional service and construction contract documents, cost of facilitating and processing of the statutory Certificate of Occupancy, and damages for cost of logistics. Also, the amount is damages to cover for loss of profit on the development, and cost of site possession. Oak further wants the court to award on the damages 23 percent interest per annum being the commercial bank lending rate as inspired by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Yet the dispute on the housing project would have been avoided if the IGP Arase had stood by the existing agreement on the project in the principle of administrative continuity as part of his housing policy. Former IGP Mohammed D. Abubakar had in a memo with reference number: CV: 9005/DLS/FHQ/ABJ/VOL.5/7 dated 24th April, 2014 approved the proposal of Oak Development for the development of Palm Brook Manors Estate, Enugu. The estate, which covers 50 hectares of land, will have 752 housing units to be constructed within 36 months with infrastructure. 60 percent of it will be allocated to police officers, while 40 percent will be sold to interested members of the public at a profit to be shared between the firm and the police.
After the signing of the MOU in June, 2014, Oak processed the Certificate of Occupancy from Enugu State government, project designs and Bill of Quantities, site offices, and sundry logistics. The various housing types and unit costs approved by former IGP Abubakar which was agreed to initially with the new IGP Arase are: 236 two-bedroom semi-detached bungalow; 144 three-bedroom plus two-bedroom boys quarters; 156 two-bedroom block of flats 156 three-bedroom townhouse plus two-bedroom and 60 four-bedroom townhouses plus two-bedroom boys quarters.
The Principal Consultant/CEO of Oak Development Limited Architect Biodun Owoborode described the action of the police in handing over the estate project to another firm despite an existing agreement as “contempt for due process and gross display of impunity.”
Owoborode said beside the claims for financial compensation, the company is also stuck with the professional embarrassment it now faces with its international partners, who left out of annoyance that a law enforcement organization is at the centre of such infraction.
“As the current administration strives to restore sanity in the conduct of public affairs and the management of the political economy, Nigeria’s image is also under test. If a federal government agency, a law enforcement organization at that, can casually renege on an agreement, negative signals are being conveyed on the quality of business practices in the country,” he said.
First Rotech Group in a response by Emmanuel Ejeh, the General Manager, said: “First Rotech Group was awarded a contract by Nigerian Police Force to construct houses for police officers in Enugu. We are not privy to anything that transpired between the police and any other person.”
Police authorities also say it will go ahead to launch the housing scheme.
Force Public Relations Officer Olabisi Kolawole, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) said the dispute over the PPP agreement will not halt the housing scheme the Force is doing for its officers and men.
“Construction of housing schemes in Enugu is not stalled at all as the IGP will soon launch the first phase,” she said.
Many police officers look forward to the inauguration of the Enugu apartments as the end of their nightmare of protracted wait for delivered expectation of becoming home owners. But that will also depend on how the dispute over portfolio ownership of the site of the estate is resolved among the two developers in the weeks ahead.