Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property has said that the federal government may soon take over empty houses in Abuja and sell them.
Chairman of the panel, Okoi Obono-Obla, who is also the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Prosecution, made this known when the Say no Campaign, a civil society organisation, paid a courtesy call on him.
He said there was the need for the government to collaborate with civil society groups in order to search out properties of looters of national treasury.
“I want the houses taken over, that is where CSOs will have to work together with us. We have to take over those building and sell them and maybe put the money into education for our children.
“I was appointed to work to galvanise the anti-corruption war this assignment is a very important one and I will do it well,” he said
Obono-Obla said there was a law known as the Recovery of Public Property Special Provisions Act which had been in existence for the past 40 years without being implemented by successive regimes.
He said the law stated that anyone who lied about their asset would go to prison for 21 years and if they had assets more than their earning their punishment was life imprisonment.
The prosecutor said his office was ready to collaborate with civil society groups to fight corruption.
He urged them to submit the names of people who own properties illegally, especially public servants.
“This is because I have been asked to focus on public sector corruption.’’
Earlier, Ezenwa Nwagwu, one of the conveners of the Say no Campaign, said the campaign was birthed to fight against corruption, impunity, rape and election rigging.
“So, we want to be able to screen out particular areas where we will be coming in to assist you and if there are collaborative areas you think we can also collaborate, the CSOs will be able to do.”
Nwagwu said there were empty houses wasting in Abuja and most of them had been built for over 10 years and nobody lived in them.
He said the group would partner with the office to ensure that the fight against corruption was intensified. (NAN)
