Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has tasked the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, to engage credible auctioneers to dispose assets forfeited to the federal government.
HURIWA in the statement signed by the National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko; and National Media Affairs Director, Ms Zainab Yusuf; Thursday in Abuja, queried the justification by the AGF to constitution of a 22-member inter-ministerial committee for the disposal of these assets.
The rights group made case for the federal government to engage professionals with wide knowledge, experience, relevant documents and long term experience as stipulated by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) to handle the sales.
According to the group, government should keep 30 per cent of the seized assets for use by government offices that operate from rented apartments, as well as 10 per cent be turned into bedrooms apartments for families of soldiers and police officers who lost their lives waging war on terror.
HURIWA further suggested that the remaining 60 per cent of the assets should be disposed through open and competitive bidding, to ensure transparency and accountability in the process because there are technicalities involved.
While tasking government to comply with the Public Procurement Act, the right group advocated for the publication of the identities of those the property in question were recovered from.
The process, according to HURIWA, should include widely circulated advertisements of the properties with details that clearly and easily identify each property, and that the advertisement would call for bids.
“The best way is to first, publish the properties to be sold in national dailies by way of advertorial. The government should buy space in about six national newspapers with sensitivity to different areas of the country.
“It should publish the entire property to be sold and also the total sum in different currencies so far recovered. And if any part of the money has been used, who gave the authority to do so? Was it budgeted for, was it appropriated by the National Assembly or the government simply dipped its hand in the treasury and used it?
“In the absence of confidentiality of record, the government should publish details of those from whom those assets were recovered from, and also give adequate time for people to value them before making offer, or selling them. An open policy should be used in disposing them,” the group maintained.
