The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Wednesday, said its investigations have revealed that many abandoned estates in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, are owned by civil servants.

Noting that some of the estates have been abandoned for over 10 years, the anti-graft agency, through its Chairman, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, said it has set up a special team that would start visiting such properties.

The EFCC boss spoke at a ?Policy Dialogue on the Critical Issues Affecting Nigeria?s Real Estate Ecosystem,? organised by Law Corridor. According to him, though the special task force would kickstart its operation in Abuja, it would equally visit other abandoned estates in various parts of the country.

Insisting that such properties were proceeds of crime, the EFCC Chairman warned lawyers and real estate developers not to lend themselves as willing tools in the hands of those that engage in money laundering.

?I have set up the team. We will start visiting all the estates, not only Abuja but across Nigeria. We want to know who owns what.

?It will shock you that some of these estates have been abandoned for 10 to 20 years. They just take it to a level and they abandon it. Nobody knows what is going on.

?What we have been able to gather is that most of these estates were funded by civil servants who have stolen money.

?The moment they leave public service and the money is no longer coming, they abandon the estate. Then, the developer will start looking for investors to support them to complete the project.

?That is one of the things we have discovered in some of these abandoned estates and we have taken the pain to move against some of those estates.

?In a recent time, we have had cause to file for forfeiture for about 15 of them. We have gotten more intelligence too. Some of you sitting in this room, probably some of those estates belong to you.

?But very soon, we are expecting to also meet you in court because there is no way we will develop this sector if we continue with that attitude. I know some of you, you have your genuine sources of capital.

?But again, we look at it too; the system has to help you. The system has to encourage you. I have taken it up with the bankers.

?Start with what you can handle. Don?t let anybody hide under you and do money laundering. We are going to expose you. We are going to fish you out and bust the racket because we have got to a stage in Nigeria where all of us have to collaborate.

?The government will play its part. The private sector will play their own part for this country to move forward. It is my desire that by the time you are having another round of this engagement, we will have better news to share,? the EFCC Chairman added.

While decrying the level of corruption in the public service, Olukoyede wondered how a level 17 officer whose salary is not up to N1million could afford to live in a N500m mansion.

?Yet, nobody asks questions,? he lamented, even as he called for a change of mentality, saying ?we have to do something about this credit transactional system? for the country to be able to move forward.

?Look at countries where things work. Here, you buy your cars- cash, you build your house, everything, cash. Everything you do in Nigeria, cash. You buy your suit, cash.

?I mean, come on! We can?t build an economy that way, we can?t! I told them on the floor of the National Assembly.?

Continuing, the EFCC Chairman said: ?People complain about the banking industry in Nigeria.

?Do you know that there are banks that we have never had a cause to investigate? Just go into their records.

?There are banks that compliance is topmost in their operations, that we have never had a cause to investigate.

?Meanwhile, there are banks that have been caught with their MDs. There are banks that I have had cause to take over this year.

?Foreign investors come here, they establish banks, and you will go into their books and find clean record.

?There are banks in Nigeria, you take N10m to and it will take you like forever to do documentation before they accept it from you.

?Meanwhile, there are banks that you investigate, you see $10m deposited in the vault. No documentation, nothing.

?So it depends on who you are. It depends on how you want to run your business. It depends on your disposition towards doing things right.

?When you do it right at the beginning, the end will be right, you will be justified. But when you build your business on fraud, at the end of the day, you will not survive,? he added.

On his part, the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, stressed the need for a centralized system that would enhance the verification of ownership of properties in the country.

Osigwe equally warned that the arbitrary revocation of land ownership owing to alleged failure to pay ground rent, was capable of scaring away foreign investors.

Earlier in his presentation, the Practice Group Lead, Real Estate, Construction and Infrastructure of the Law Corridor, Mr. Ayokunle Erin, disclosed that current estimate placed Nigeria?s housing deficit at between 17 to 20m housing units, with a required annual delivery of 700,000 units to meet demand.

?Unfortunately, output falls drastically short. In Abuja, for example, only about 5,000 units were constructed in 2024, satisfying less than 10% of the city?s needs.

?These gaps reflect deep-rooted policy failures, regulatory lapses, and legal ambiguities that continue to embolden fraudsters, quacks, and unlicensed agents,? he added. (Vanguard)

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