GOVERNOR Willie Obiano of Anambra State has suspended the planned sale of some assets of the state, including the Commissioners quarters, located within the Agu-Awka axis near Government House, Awka.
Mr C-Don Adinuba, Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, made the position of government known in a statement made available to newsmen on Sunday in Awka.
The leading opposition party in the state, the Peoples Democratic Party, had recently criticised the planned sale of some state’s assets as bad.
Mr Nnamdi Nwangwu, PDP Publicity secretary noted that the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA)-led government was trying to dispose of all that the state had.
“We have it on good note that many property of the State in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and Enugu are being sold by the incumbent government,” he said.
But in a reaction, Adinuba described the criticism as a case of de-marketing of the state and corruption fighting back, adding that there was nothing surreptitious about the planned asset disposal.
He said assets put for sale were those government discovered it inherited since the creation of the state in 1991 but were not in any official record of the state government.
“The State government received an intelligence report in late 2018 that there were a number of properties in prime locations in Enugu which were given to Anambra State following the sharing of assets between Enugu and Anambra.
“An Executive Council panel was set up to investigate the report, the panel discovered that there was no record whatsoever known to the government about any of the properties and government has not derived any value from the properties.
“Though Governor Willie Obiano was to suspend the decision to sell off the properties, the advertisement in national media was in line with the principles of transparency, accountability and due process,” he stated.
Adinuba said the Commissioners’ Quarters property in Awka was placed for disposal in view of the fact that they were no longer serving their intended purposes, and dismissed, as misinformation, reports that it planned to sell it at give away prices.
Adinuba said the intention was to use the proceeds from the sales to build modern multi-family buildings which should serve as official residences of commissioners and other top political appointees in a more secure location.
He said the attack on the government was to arm-twist it into abandoning the assets recovery drive.
“The oppositions have also alleged that the government has begun the sale of the Commissioners Quarters in Awka at N25m per compound. True, there has been a move to alienate the Commissioners Quarters at N45m, and not N25m, per compound.
“This valuation was reached based on the comparative market value of land in the area and environs where the Commissioners Quarters is located as well as the fact that the government allocates land at N10m for 1,000 square metres in similar locations.
“The value has been computed at N30m per compound, therefore, the value is N30m per compound. An upper value of N15m has been determined to cover the total value of old four-bedroom bungalow and two-room servants quarters, bringing the total valuation to N45m,” he stated.
– NAN
