BY DAYO ADESULU
The Federal Government has kicked off an open bidding process to auction all forfeited assets at its disposal.
Mr Dayo Apata, SAN, the chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on the Disposal of Forfeited Assets, on Thursday flagged off the bidding process at the Federal Ministry of Justice in Abuja.
According to him, applications have been received from 2000 Auction firms to purchase the assets.
He said that the forfeited assets are currently situated in 25 different locations in the country.
Apata, SAN, who doubles as the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice and Solicitor General of the Federation, said the forfeited assets included landed properties, plants, machinery, motor vehicles, electronics, furniture and equipment, water vessels, jewellery, ornaments, as well as clothing materials.
The assets were recovered from alleged treasury looters and forfeited to the government on the order of courts.
Apata said the Committee had earlier embarked on onsite verification and auditing of the forfeited assets to confirm their existence and to ascertain their current state.
He said the Committee carried out a proper valuation of all the assets in accordance with international best practices and was able to ascertain their current market values.
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Besides, he said the Committee, based on the information it gathered, worked out a set of criteria for each of the lots that every bidder or auctioneer must meet to qualify, stressing that no member of the Committee or any firm that participated in the valuation process would be allowed to partake in the auction.
It will be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had on November 9, 2020, inaugurated the 22-member Inter-Ministerial Committee, which he mandated to dispose of all assets forfeited to the federal government.
A total of 398 Estate Surveyors and Valuers had in March, applied to participate in the valuation of all the forfeited assets.
