The Senate Ad hoc Committee investigating the issue of N6 trillion unpaid ground rent has been instructed by the Federal Government to redirect their inquiry to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).

During the visit of the Senate ad hoc committee chaired by Senator Adamu Aliero, PDP, Kebbi Central to the Ministry in Abuja on Wednesday, the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, SAN, stated that the Presidential Implementation Committee (PIC) responsible for issuing receipts on the property falls under the SGF's jurisdiction and not his ministry. Fashola added that he only became aware of the PIC's activities after receiving requests to sign Certificates of Occupancy on the property.

It is worth noting that on March 29th, the Senate established an ad hoc committee to investigate and recover the N6 trillion that has accumulated due to the non-payment of ground rent by property owners throughout the country.

The power to sign C-of-Os is vested in the President for federal government land and in state governors for state land. Fashola added that the PIC falls under the purview of the SGF and not his ministry, and anytime he sought to find the committee, nobody showed up. The Senate had set up an ad hoc committee in March to investigate and recover over N6 trillion accrued from non-payment of ground rent from property owners across the country.

After the meeting, the Minister explained that most of the C-of-Os he had signed were long-standing requests dating back 15 to 20 years. He also mentioned that he had raised concerns about the payment process for some C-of-Os that were submitted in recent years.

Senator Aliero, the chairman of the ad hoc committee, stated that they plan to engage with the Presidential Implementation Committee (PIC) next week to discuss the disposal of federal government ground rent. He also revealed that about N18 billion had been recovered, and efforts were underway to collect the remaining balance.

Aliero promised that his committee would investigate all the properties owned and sold by the Federal Government in different states and the FCT, as well as the payment method for the ground rent. He added that given the current revenue shortfall and the government's effort to diversify revenue sources beyond oil, the amount of N6 trillion would undoubtedly attract significant attention.