NLC in multi billion naira housing scandal

Vivian parked her car by the road somewhere in the Central Business District of Abuja and went into a shopping mall. Coming back, she found a flyer stuck on her car’s windscreen. The heading of the writing was “NLC-Kriston Lally EPC Affordable Housing Scheme” with address of promoters as No. 46 Lobito Crescent, Off Adetokunbo […]

Vivian parked her car by the road somewhere in the Central Business District of Abuja and went into a shopping mall. Coming back, she found a flyer stuck on her car’s windscreen. The heading of the writing was “NLC-Kriston Lally EPC Affordable Housing Scheme” with address of promoters as No. 46 Lobito Crescent, Off Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, Wuse II, Abuja. Following this address were phone numbers, email address and websites. Then beautiful houses prototype.

The following are opening and second paragraphs of the writing on the flyer: “Sequel to the NLC leadership’s 1st May 2013 launch of the NLC-Kriston Lally EPC Affordable Housing Scheme to build 300,000 new housing units for the benefit of NLC’s membership nationwide, members are hereby invited to come and formally subscribe to the first tranche of 100,000 shovel-ready homes across Nigeria. NLC has provided tracts of land and the developer has secured finance, building plans and development approvals for these houses nationwide.
“Applications for the first ‘shovel-ready’ round of 100,000 homes will be entertained on a first-come, first served basis with projects to be substantially completed by June 2014 and available for possession and occupation no later than December  2014. The scheme will deliver 200,000 more units of affordable homes by 30th June, 2015 and rollover into new phases to accommodate such subscription base as the NLC possesses subsequently.”
The flyer specified the procedure for payment ranging from one-bedroom apartment to four-bedroom detached and semi-detached houses.
Curiously, two separate accounts were provided. NLC-Kriston Lally Project Account No. 1013399671, Zenith Bank was for payment of 10 percent of the cost of the house chosen by the prospective buyer. There was as well NLC-Kriston Lally EPC Collection Account, Ac No. 1013379134 X-Path System. In this account, one was to pay N5,000 for Zenith Bank PIN. Mrs Chinwe Ewurun whose designation was given as Property Desk Officer NLC Headquarters, Abuja with phone numbers was for contact.
With this information, Vivian made calls and she was persuaded to quickly go and make payments and be part of the plenteous housing programme. She paid the N5,000 PIN and 10 percent of the total value of the house she chose.
But she became suspicious when attempts to see how far work had progressed yielded no result. Many who bought the scheme like her started asking questions. To douse this tension, NLC president Abdulwahed Omar announced in April this year that President Goodluck Jonathan would launch the housing scheme. Those who put in stakes were asked to attend the ceremony slated to hold in Karsana, Abuja.
On the eve of the ceremony day, text message was sent to stakeholders telling them the event had been cancelled. From that time, (May this year), communication between management of the scheme and the public was poor. Agitations were rife resulting in a protest march to NLC headquarters in Abuja …last month. The angry protesters blocked the entrance to the Labour House – neither was there In nor Out movement.
Omar was forced to come and address the crowd. He pacified them saying dealings with the developer were put off because he was found to have indulged in unacceptable acts. He told the protesters that their money was safe and would be returned to them.
The protesters expressed dissatisfaction with the role NLC played in the matter saying if it had done due diligence, it would have known whether Kriston Lally EPC Nigeria was really the right firm to be entrusted with this huge task in Nigeria. Many said they bought the scheme because they saw that NLC, known for its pro-masses campaign was involved. Omar’s advice to the protesters to switch over to another developer called Good Homes was rejected as the people said they had lost confidence in the whole transaction. It was agreed that a meeting between the public and management of the project be convened on Nov 12, 2014.
On that day, Kriston Lally EPC Nigeria was absent but NLC was present. By then, the Department of State Security (DSS) had been drawn into the matter. The meeting therefore delegated three members of the public to attend a meeting called by DSS involving all parties on Nov. 12, 2014. In that meeting, NLC agreed to refund all that was collected from the public in two weeks. Now the agitators are anxiously waiting to see this come to pass.  
Knotty issues
It was difficult laying hands on the agreement to see its details. Neither NLC president nor Kriston Lally EPC Nigeria manager could be reached. The manager of Kriston Lally EPC, Alhaji Umar Madawaki was not in office when our reporter visited. But a source said Kriston Lally EPC Nigeria had suffered losses because it took 10 people abroad to meet foreign partners for the project.
It is said that the money was moved from Zenith Bank to another bank.
NLC accuses Kriston Lally EPC Nigeria of operating a parallel account to the original one jointly maintained by both parties. This creates impression that some property seekers might have paid into account not known to NLC.
The agreement for the housing project was signed on April 6, 2013 by the Deputy President of NLC Promise Adewusi and the manager of Kriston Lally EPC Nigeria Limited.
Omar was quoted as saying, “On the issue of housing, we are very serious about it and before we leave office we hope to see that quite a number of workers would have gotten shelter. The most important thing is that we would have laid a foundation whereby on continuous basis, Nigerian workers will continue to get houses in a very easy way by just depositing 10 percent and then get a house that they will continue to pay for over a period of time.”
Similarly, Madawaki at a time assured that Kriston Lally had done everything to ensure that those who subscribed for the first phase of the project got their houses as scheduled.
“In practical term, we are ready. We’ve cleared our sites. We have imported block making factory. It’s already in Abuja. We have mobilised virtually all our staff that are supposed to be on sites and our sub-contractors are all sensitized and ready. So, in practical term, we as company are ready,” were words of Madawaki.
This project was designed to cover 600,000 houses valued at N960 billion ($6 billion). It is said that 3090 people paid for the project.