What were originally intended to be official government liaison offices for state representatives in Lagos are now reportedly being misused as unofficial guest houses and, in some cases, operating as brothels, investigations by WEEKEND Leadership have revealed.

These state-owned properties, scattered across upscale and strategic locations in Lagos, have increasingly come under scrutiny for deviating from their original purpose and raising serious security concerns.

Investigations revealed that several of these buildings, meant to facilitate administrative and diplomatic functions for various state governments, are now poorly managed or left in disuse, thereby creating a vacuum exploited by criminal elements.

Concerned residents and security experts have raised alarms over the influx of suspicious individuals and illicit activities within these premises, warning that the situation not only undermines public morality but also poses a tangible threat to urban safety and governance in Nigeria?s commercial capital.

LEADERSHIP correspondents observed that some of these state liaison offices in Lagos are now being misused as short-term lodgings for commercial sex workers and roving traders. Further checks also showed that security guards and custodians at these premises rent out sections of the buildings at night for illicit activities, turning them into makeshift brothels.

The situation has sparked growing concern among residents and business owners in adjoining areas, who say the activities pose serious security risks, attract criminal elements, and degrade the reputation of state representatives in Lagos.

Our correspondents, who discreetly visited the liaison offices posing as squatters, confirmed that illegal occupants go there to seek refuge after the payment of a token to the illegal landlords.

In some of the liaison offices owned by some Northern states, the illegal occupants are mostly petty traders, cobblers, artisans, and construction workers employed at various sites across Lagos. The liaison officers have reportedly converted the administrative offices into what they call ?Arrangee? rooms or ?Sleep and Go? apartments, as well as coupon offices and betting shops. The illegal occupants, both male and female, have also turned the liaison offices into residential abodes.

It was gathered that some have become emboldened, moving their entire families into the liaison offices, while others have been procreating and raising children on the premises. Many of these former sprawling structures, located in prime areas of Victoria Island, are now dilapidated, with the illegal lodgers carrying out illicit activities openly and without restriction.

LEADERSHIP Weekend further observed that some of the liaison offices have been completely neglected and abandoned by the states that own them, thereby creating an opportunity for miscreants and illegal squatters to operate freely from the buildings. Some individuals have converted portions of the liaison offices into grilling spots, local bars, suya joints, and what are called ?Arrangee rooms? and ?Sleep and Go? apartments.

Liaison offices along Victoria Island, stretching across Bishop Oluwole Street, Oduduwa, and the Bar Beach bus stop, have become homes to illegal occupants, effectively turning these government buildings into makeshift Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps, as some struggle to make ends meet in the effervescent city. In most cases, the primary objective of creating these offices has been defeated. Instead, the buildings have become hubs for stranded travelers, commercial sex workers, miscreants, and various illicit activities.

Observers told our correspondents that many state governments have abandoned their liaison buildings in Lagos, shifting their focus to liaison offices in Abuja since the nation?s capital was moved from Lagos. This neglect has left the Lagos liaison buildings, mostly located in the highbrow area of Victoria Island, in a moribund state, making them easy targets for squatters and illegal occupants.

The liaison buildings of Kwara, Borno, Bauchi, Adamawa, Zamfara, Nasarawa, Gombe, Benue, Kebbi, Imo, Bayelsa, and Rivers states are among the most affected. Visits to these buildings revealed that most structures are dilapidated, with security officers guarding the premises renting out available rooms inside the liaison offices to what they described as ?sleep and go? lodgers.

At the Adamawa State Liaison Office, the condition of the building raises serious concerns about its structural integrity, as parts of the structure are gradually giving way and face imminent collapse if the state government does not intervene. Some individuals reportedly came from Adamawa State to occupy certain sections of the building, leaving it unkempt, filthy, with broken septic tanks, damaged soakaways, and leaking roofs.

Some of the squatters in the Zamfara State liaison building on Adeola Odeku Street, Victoria Island, said they live in the building because of its proximity to their places of work. Occupants who are low-income earners, such as drivers and cleaners working for companies in Victoria Island, told our correspondents that they could not ordinarily afford accommodation in such a highbrow location if not for the availability of abandoned properties like the state liaison buildings.

A squatter living in the Adamawa Liaison House on Bishop Oluwole Street, also in Victoria Island, who works as a driver attached to a popular bank in Lagos, said he rents a house in Igando but cannot afford the daily transportation costs to get to work. He told LEADERSHIP Weekend that his family lives in Igando, where they have a mini-flat apartment, ?but transport fare forced me to look for abandoned accommodation nearby.?

Another squatter, who identified himself as Dapo Fakirepo, said he pays a certain amount of money to undisclosed individuals to live inside the Adamawa Liaison House. ?Some people pay weekly to sleep in the building,? he disclosed. Further investigation by our correspondents revealed that the Benue Liaison Office in Lagos has been leased out to Presken Hotels since 2020. Presken took over the liaison office and converted it into a hotel, bar, and pub.

The cost of rooms at the Benue Liaison Office, now managed by Presken Hotels and Resorts Limited, ranges from N56,000 to N153,000, depending on the size of the rooms.

At the Kwara Liaison Office, security personnel met by one of our correspondents said the premises are no longer available for ?sleep and go? arrangements, insisting that the place is now fully under renovation. When further probed, he acknowledged that several families, mostly Fulani Muslims, are currently residing in the Kwara State Liaison Offices, taking refuge there.

He denied any plans by the government to sell the property but admitted that efforts to renovate the building are underway, with plans to commence work soon.

At the Nasarawa Liaison Offices, some apartments are occupied by people of Hausa and Fulani extraction, while artisans, lotto shop owners, and Betnaija operators also conduct business from the premises.

For the Rivers and Bayelsa Liaison Offices, although they share the same administrative block and their offices are functional, the security personnel at the gate often compromise by collecting money from people and giving out rooms to lodgers to generate side income for themselves. One of the security officers for the Bayelsa and Rivers State Liaison Offices said, ?We are three security men on duty. Whoever is willing to pay to lodge will have to settle the three of us before we can give them rooms to pass the night.?

John(surname withheld), a resident of Benue State Lodge who works as a construction worker in Lagos, told our correspondent that he paid a paltry sum of N4,000 a month to secure an apartment in one of the Liaison Offices, where he sleeps after closing for the day. To cope with his situation, John said he checked into one of the apartments in the Liaison Office, where he was offered accommodation for N4,000 per month.

Despite the uncertainty, John said he paid for the apartment for six months and has access to bring in friends and women to sleep with him. Another staff member at the Taraba Liaison Office, who spoke with LEADERSHIP Weekend on the condition of anonymity, said they were being owed salaries by the state government. He added that the state government is also marginalizing those of them working in the Liaison Office in Lagos by depriving them of certain welfare packages.

A cursory look at the Plateau State Liaison Office on Ahmadu Bello Way in Lagos revealed that the office now exists as a makeshift camp housing a few individuals who have turned the administrative building into an IDP camp, lodging displaced persons. For the Bauchi and Gombe State Liaison Offices in Lagos, findings by our correspondent, who interviewed one of the security officers, Isiaka, revealed that they are fully involved in ?arrangee? room racketeering, where people can bring in prostitutes.

Multi-billion Naira State Liaison Offices Rot Away In Lagos

He said rents range from N4,000 to N15,000 for ?sleep-and-go? apartments.

The Bauchi State Liaison Office has become a complete IDP settlement camp in Lagos, housing all manner of people, including displaced individuals and those facing accommodation problems. They troop there and set up makeshift tents, which they spread out to cover themselves when they sleep. Isiaka told LEADERSHIP Weekend, ?We have rooms for N7,000, N8,000, N10,000, and N15,000, but we don?t have water or toilet facilities for anyone lodging here, except if you go to a nearby public toilet and restroom to bathe.?

As for the Kano and Sokoto Liaison Offices, they have a large number of occupants, mostly cobblers, nail cutters, food vendors, and artisans who occupy the surroundings and the front of the office space. For the Abia State Liaison offices, the security personnel who identified himself as Hosea Alli told LEADERSHIP Weekend that he charges N20,000 for a sleep-in apartment inside the Liaison office.

He said, ?We have enough lodgers in our staff quarters who pay as little as N15,000 to pass the night. We will give you rooms to sleep over, but you will settle us. We will help you arrange water to bathe in the morning before our Ogas come to the office.?

He also stated that most lodgers are giving out rooms inside the Abia State Liaison Offices to make money for themselves without the knowledge of the management of the offices. ?When we give people rooms, we tell them to please stay inside their rooms and don?t come outside so they don?t see you around,? he added.

Speaking on the security risk associated with such unregulated lodging, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Institute for Industrial Security, Dr. Wilson Esangbedo, asserted that the first step in securing Lagos involves enforcing stringent access control and surveillance protocols at all government facilities, with immediate investigations and sanctions against any compromised security personnel.

He remarked that this can be facilitated first by the Community Development Association to conduct a risk assessment of their community to find out where they have security concerns.

According to him, ?There is much activity going on in those places with proper security, protection, and access control before you go in. Those without much activity have gates that are wide open. Those with skeletal activity are where security issues arise, and if there is an active community development association, they are supposed to address that issue by relating to the police in their community,? he said.

He, however, stressed that the police will do their duty and will also draw the attention of the relevant state government to alert them of illicit activities happening in such facilities. He added that while Lagos is no longer the center of activities for many states, having a liaison office in Abuja, issues like this can still arise.

?Furthermore, Lagos?s status as Nigeria?s economic hub makes it particularly vulnerable to infiltration from criminal networks that might want to exploit places like this for illicit activities.

There must be a national strategy to deploy smart border technologies such as drones, surveillance towers, and facial recognition systems at high-traffic border points,? he emphasized.

He stated that Lagos security would also benefit from a centralized national security database accessible to immigration and law enforcement agencies for real-time identity verification. He said, ?Community engagement is essential; citizens must be sensitized to recognize and report suspicious activities without fear of reprisal.

Vigilante groups, traditional leaders, and religious institutions can play key roles in intelligence gathering at the grassroots level.?

Although several attempts by LEADERSHIP Weekend to meet the resident association proved abortive, as the area is mostly considered a business and administrative unit and not fully a residential housing space, some stakeholders affirmed that the nation lacks a maintenance culture.

Speaking on the illegal conversion of state Liaison Administrative offices into homes for squatters in Lagos, Chief Executive Officer of Greenchell Homes and Property, Ezekiel Oke, faulted the respective state governments for abandoning state liaison office buildings while adding that this property was acquired with the proceeds of taxes and revenue from the respective states.

He remarked that the decayed infrastructure portends waste of resources, misplaced priority, neglect, and corruption. He advised states to stop sinking state funds into buying facilities and buildings they would later abandon for strangers to occupy, while stressing that the money spent on acquiring sprawling decayed infrastructure could be used to develop the states.

Also speaking, former REDAN Auditor Southwest, Emmanuel Oyelowo lamented the decrepit state of administrative offices and liaison office buildings owned by states in the country. He charged state actors to improve their maintenance culture to manage state-owned infrastructure.

He also urged various states whose liaison offices are in moribund conditions to take urgent steps to address the scourge. He said governors of these states should visit their liaison offices in Victoria Island, Lagos, to carry out assessments of the office areas, check the structural integrity of the buildings, evacuate illegal occupants, and beef up security measures inside these offices.

He further stated that if this is not properly addressed, these liaison offices could become a haven for state criminals. He also charged states to change all their liaison officers and recruit new ones who will manage the administrative affairs of these offices and not those bringing in squatters and rent seekers to convert the offices into their homes.

Benue Dismisses Inquiry Into Lagos Liaison Office, Questions Media?s Role

Efforts by our correspondent to speak with the managing director of the Benue Investment and Property Company (BIPC), Dr. Raymond Asemakaha, initially proved unsuccessful, as calls to his line were not answered. However, when he eventually returned the call, he requested that the assignment details be sent to him via text message, citing his involvement in a meeting.

Upon receiving the message, Dr. Asemakaha responded with strong reservations about the nature of the inquiry. He questioned the rationale behind the interest of LEADERSHIP Newspapers in the management of state-owned properties, particularly those located in Lagos. According to him, ?What do they want to do with a state?s or someone?s personal properties? What concern does LEADERSHIP or its correspondents have with what a state chooses to do with its own property? Have your reporters even gone to Lagos to see the facility in question? If they haven?t, they should go there first. We do not need anyone?s permission to manage our property as we see fit.?

He further stated, ?They do not have the right to question us on what we do with our properties, neither does LEADERSHIP nor any of its correspondents. If I own a personal p?operty, would anyone dictate how I use it? Tell them that what they are asking is not their job. If I have my properties, will they tell me what to do with them??

Kebbi Liaison Office Renovated Not Abandoned ? Perm Sec

The Liaison Office for Kebbi State in Lagos is not abandoned by the government. This was confirmed to LEADERSHIP Weekend by the permanent secretary of Protocol Affairs, Alhaji Saqir Muhammed. He disclosed that upon his swearing-in in 2023, Governor Nasir Idris ordered the renovation of all government liaison offices, including the one in Lagos. ?Look, right now, officers have been posted to all our liaison offices in Abuja, Lagos, Kaduna, and other places we call them Los,? said Muhammed. ?These Los are the ones conveying mail and all other messages to the governor and other government officials,? he added.

In Sokoto State, no official in the cabinet office which oversees the state liaison offices in Lagos and Kaduna was willing to speak on the state of the offices when our correspondent sought them out. For fear of being reprimanded, no one was willing to speak to our correspondent, claiming they were not authorized to discuss sensitive matters concerning government property. However, a staff member who spoke to our correspondent in disguise disclosed that the liaison office is more or less of no use to the state government; hence, they haven?t bothered to maintain it.

He said, ?Actually, I cannot speak officially on the condition of the office, but there are people deployed there with no clear schedule of duty. The only time I can recall the staff of the liaison office being called to duty was in 2021 when former Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal went to receive an award in Lagos State. I remember they arranged transportation for the state entourage to and from the airport, their accommodation, and other logistics, in conjunction with the team from Sokoto,? he stated.

NASARAWA:

LEADERSHIP Weekend recalls that in September 2023, occupants of the Nasarawa State Liaison Office in Lagos were forcefully evicted by police operatives following claims that the property had allegedly been sold. The eviction sparked protests from indigenes of the state residing in Lagos, who called on Governor Abdullahi Sule to initiate a thorough and transparent investigation into the purported sale of the facility by the immediate past administration.

In a letter signed by the group?s chairman, Alhaji Musa Ikushigya, the indigenes condemned what they described as the ?barbaric and ruthless? treatment of their members during the eviction, accusing the police of dehumanizing them under the guise of removing illegal occupants. They also questioned the legitimacy of the sale, alleging that due process was not observed. According to the letter, the sale did not comply with public procurement procedures, and no verifiable payment was traceable in relation to the transaction.

The said letter, our correspondents gathered, was accompanied by a physical protest held by the indigenes around the disputed property. Concerned by the incident, the Nasarawa State House of Assembly, under the leadership of then-Speaker Ibrahim Balarabe Abdullahi, constituted a nine-member ad-hoc committee to investigate the alleged sale. The committee, chaired by Hon. Larry Ven Bawa (APC, Akwanga North), was immediately dispatched to Lagos to carry out a fact-finding mission concerning the status of the liaison office.

Sources confirmed that the committee visited the property and conducted an inspection. The facility reportedly consists of a two-story building, boys? quarters, a cafeteria, a swimming pool, and other amenities. However, despite the public interest the issue generated, the committee?s findings were never made public. This coincided with the eventual removal of Speaker Ibrahim Balarabe Abdullahi from office by the Appeal Court in November 2023, which declared the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Sa?ad Abdullahi Ibrahim, as the duly elected representative for the Umaisha/Ugya State Constituency following the March 18, 2023 election.

Imo Lagos Liaison Office Fully Functional, Ensures Seamless Service Delivery

The Imo State Government has affirmed that its liaison office in Lagos is fully functional and delivers services effectively and efficiently. This assurance was given by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Hon. Oguike Nwachuku, during an interaction with LEADERSHIP Weekend.

Nwachuku emphasized that the state government, being both responsible and responsive, has ensured that the liaison office is adequately staffed and equipped with the necessary tools and logistics for smooth operations. ?Our Lagos liaison office operates efficiently. Lagos remains a vital hub for business activities, and it is important that we maintain a strong presence there,? he said.

He added that the office facilitates effective communication and prompt handling of official correspondence, which contributes to optimal service delivery.

It?s Wrong for States to Abandon Offices ? Lagos Govt

Meanwhile, the Lagos State Government has frowned upon the abandonment of the liaison houses by the affected state governments. It said the government will also not allow any of the offices to be used by criminals, adding that concerned state governments should take proper possession of their properties.

The state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso, who spoke with one of our correspondents, said the ocean surge that could have made some of the states abandon the offices was curtailed during the regime of President Bola Tinubu as the governor of Lagos State. He said, ?Those properties ought not to be abandoned. I think some were abandoned because of the ocean surge then. But the regime of the former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, curtailed it.

?I can conveniently tell you that some of the buildings there have become so prime that their values have gone up rapidly. It is against the law for buildings to be abandoned and then turn into a criminal haven. The state government will not condone that, and I?m sure the affected states will have to do something about it.?

Rivers State Liaison Office Still Operational

By Anayo Onukwugha, Port Harcourt The Rivers State Liaison Office in Lagos remains operational and continues to receive monthly overhead funding from the state government. A senior government official who spoke to LEADERSHIP Weekend on condition of anonymity confirmed the continued operation of the office. ?The office is still functioning; I can confirm that. It continues to receive monthly overheads from the state government,? the official said.

He added that if the office were no longer active, it would not be receiving such financial allocations.

Plateau No Misuse, Structure Yet to Be Rebuilt ? Official

The Plateau State Liaison officer in Lagos, Mr. Emmanuel Sebu, has dismissed allegations of misuse of the state?s lodge in Lagos, describing the claims as untrue. Speaking with LEADERSHIP Weekend, Sebu clarified that there is currently no structure on the land, as the previous building was demolished during the administration of former Governor Jonah Jang.

He noted that throughout the eight-year tenure of former Governor Simon Lalong, no efforts were made to reconstruct the facility. According to him, the present administration, led by Governor Caleb Mutfwang, is actively engaging with the Lagos State Government to process the necessary documentation for the construction of a new, befitting structure. ?The current status is that the land is bare?there is no structure on it,? Sebu stated.

Estate Valuers Propose Outright Sale

Amid the deteriorating state of liaison office buildings in Lagos, real estate stakeholders have proposed the outright sale of state liaison office buildings in Lagos while demanding joint venture partnership stakes to preserve state liaison assets and infrastructure. The stakeholders equally agreed that since the capital of the country has long moved from Lagos to Abuja, there is no need for liaison offices to still occupy headquarters in Lagos.

Several liaison office buildings located in deep highbrow locations and upmarket neighborhoods of Victoria Island in Lagos are wastefully occupying space in this prime location, while many liaison offices have been converted to ?sleep and go? apartments for lodgers. These prime buildings owned by respective states sit adjacent to Eko Atlantic City, where the new U.S. Consulate General Office is located and which is seen as an attractive destination for investors.

Top investors like the Chagoury Group, developers of the EKO Atlantic City project, Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project, and Hi-Tech Construction Company are nestled in this area. The return on investment of these properties in this highbrow location is quite significant, such that it has become a converging point for foreign and emerging investors.

Unfortunately, liaison office buildings nestled in this neighborhood with strong diplomatic ties to their respective states have been converted into ?Arrangee? rooms. Despite the high rental market value of this sprawling infrastructure, it has also seen some of the best-grade contractors such as Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, I.T.B Nigeria, Cappa, Buildwell, and Hi-Tech Construction Company executing most of its prime building projects.

The immediate past chairman of NIESV Lagos branch, Mr. Gbenga Ismail, said liaison offices were established when Lagos was the capital of the nation. Since the capital has long moved to Abuja, they no longer need liaison offices in Lagos for business and diplomatic relationships.

Gbenga Ismail urged the respective state governments to take urgent steps to either sell the liaison offices or enter into joint venture partnerships with foreign or indigenous companies that would help manage the facilities. He revealed that the federal government at some point allocated the lands and buildings to respective states for their state liaison offices, while stating that due to bureaucratic hurdles, they might not be able to sell off the assets completely from the state. However, he demanded that respective states should enter into joint venture partnerships with critical stakeholders to preserve the state liaison office assets.

He said a smart government will either engage in joint venture partnerships to generate income and retain investment while proposing that a joint venture partnership will further attract income to the state.

Also commenting on the current state of the liaison offices, chairman of the Association of Capital Markets Valuers (ACMV), Mr. Chudi Ubosi, affirmed that state governments are enabling the rot of state infrastructure while stressing that government officials are fond of buying choice properties in highbrow cities and upmarket neighborhoods, thereby neglecting these infrastructures to rot away.

He boldly expressed that the return on investment on the liaison office buildings is quite significant and huge, as it stands at a competitive price and commands high rental costs in the residential market in Victoria Island.

He further explained that the return on investment of these buildings could have a higher impact on rental market growth for these states if they lease them out to banks, multinationals, and consortiums in Victoria Island for administrative purposes, rather than converting segments of them into ?Arrangee? rooms and ?sleep and go? apartments.

He warned that the purpose of these state diplomatic offices in Lagos has long been defeated since they are no longer serving the interest of the states in Lagos, as offices have relocated to Abuja.

Also speaking on the conversion of state liaison office buildings in Lagos, publicist for Harmony Gardens Homes, Gbolahan Adetayo, urged the respective states that own such properties to sell them off and use the proceeds to fund infrastructure in their states.

He described It as wasteful and corrupt for infrastructure to remain underutilized while stressing that if the respective states of these liaison offices do not take urgent steps to revamp or revitalize these abandoned state buildings, then the federal government should enforce a takeover of the infrastructure from the states, as non-state actors can become more powerful than the federal government.

He urged governors of these states to visit their liaison office buildings and find better ways of making this infrastructure work for their interests. The liaison officer at the Taraba State Liaison Office, who spoke to LEADERSHIP Weekend on the condition of anonymity, hinted that liaison officers representing the appurtenances of respective states are being owed salaries, even as many states have abandoned their liaison offices and do not motivate their office staff.

He lamented that when workers are deprived of salaries, they go about breaking the norms of the institutions by engaging in illicit acts to earn a living. He further asserted that liaison officers who sublet office apartments and convert them into ?sleep and go? apartments for lodgers are victims of poor remuneration and backlogs of unpaid salaries.

He highlighted the storied lives of illegal occupants in liaison offices, citing that many of them are affected by housing shortages, internal displacement from states, porous borders, insecurity, a lack of proper housing finance, and inadequate retirement plans. He said there is a need to properly police the nation?s borders to prevent the influx of people from neighboring countries into our states.

He added that illegal occupants visit abandoned state buildings as lodgers and take up permanent refuge in these buildings. He also advised respective states to improve the security of liaison offices and allocate the administrative blocks for state diplomatic purposes, rather than illegally converting the buildings into coupon offices, grilling joints, and betting shops.

For the Adamawa State Liaison Office, the officer told LEADERSHIP Weekend that the office space is not currently operating, as the state government plans to renovate the entire building, which was left in a moribund state. Further inquiry by LEADERSHIP Weekend also revealed that many families have taken refuge in several apartments of the administrative blocks and offices.

Additionally, the Gombe State Liaison Office building is a dilapidated structure that houses a mechanic workshop inside the premises. The entire building space is overrun by mallams and abokis, who have turned the offices into cohabiting spaces. Illegal occupants, ranging from mallams, construction workers, Fulani artisans, cleaners, and bank drivers who work in Victoria Island, have taken rooms for themselves in these buildings and turned the liaison offices into a nightmare of cohabitation. (LEADERSHIP, excluding headline)

Update news