Those Accusing Me Wrongly Are Guilty, Says Oshiomhole Against the barrage of criticism that trailed the proposed sale of Edo House in Lagos, the state governor, Adams Oshiomhole, spoke to journalists and offered first hand reasons on what informed the decision. Adibe Emenyonu presents excerpts of the interview The advertised sale of the Edo House in Lagos is raising a lot of dust. Why is this? I think that the whole essence of democracy is that people have the right to express support and people also have the right too to condemn in the strongest term possible in any matter of public interest for which they feel uncomfortable and that is what makes us an open society and we are here prepared and ready to respond to any question. First, the Edo house has not been sold and it will not be sold secretly. Yes, we decided as a government at the level of the State Executive Council to look at the matter of the Edo House and all the issues around it and we came to the conclusion that it is in the interest of Edo State and in particular, Edo tax payers that that property be put to the market in a very transparent manner. I emphasise this because government property including landed property have been sold by previous governments including the military and civilian without the benefit of advertising them. If we wanted to have an underground transaction to carry out self help to sell to ourselves or family, we will not need to advertise it. It is consistent with our commitment to transparency and accountability that we decided that as a matter of obligation, we should advertise the house. However, having noticed some reactions, I thought that given an opportunity such as this, we put the matter to the public and more so that it has not yet been sold, but our decision to sell it has not been reversed but we are willing to have an open mind and certainly not an empty mind on this matter and I think I have a duty as your steward to share with you my conviction and reason why as the Governor of Edo State, I approved of the decision to sell the house. Considering the stiff opposition from the people against the proposed sale, what are the facts about Edo House? Edo House as it is called is located on a prime area along with several state governments which have similar property in the same area. This was as a result of the fact that Lagos was the Capital of Nigeria, consequent upon the creation of Abuja just as we are being summoned to Abuja from time to time, it was even more so during the military that governors had to go to Lagos for one meeting or the other. And of course, you need effective liaison between the state government and the federal government while Lagos was the capital of Nigeria. In order words, the Edo House in Lagos was built to provide space for liaising services and second, to provide accommodation. In the Edo House, we have what is called the governor’s chalet and the deputy governor’s chalet and other chalets to be used for government and non-government officials when they are in Lagos. As far as I know, that was the reason Edo House was built as at the time it was built. However, two things have happened. First, Lagos lost the status of being the Federal Capital of Nigeria when the capital was relocated to Abuja. Consequently, the issue of Lagos liaison between Edo State and the federal government can no longer take place in Lagos. Indeed, I’m sure that many of you will know that even the federal government has sold federal secretariat and a lot of federal government property in Lagos even though in some cases in a controversial manner but it has been sold. The one thousand and four housing which used to house National Assembly members once Lagos lost it status of capital and the parliament relocated to Abuja, was sold, and it remained sold to private companies because there was no need to maintain them when the parliament is no longer in Lagos. We can speak of several properties that have been sold. The overwhelming state government has sold their property built for liaison purposes between those states and the then federal capital. Like a human being, we want to ensure that the investment we make is sensible and that you do not tie down money or asset that is performing so the primary political purpose and even the social purpose is lost. The Edo House, before I assumed office, from records showed that none of my predecessor stayed in that lounge either the governors or their deputies because it has been in terrible shape and I can almost swear that even if we decided to reverse the decision, it is not likely to be used by my successors. But the property is said to be commercially viable? That again is not true and the answer is no. I have asked for all the evidence; my predecessor in government had contracted the management of Edo House to various estate agents. In fact, I confirm just recently that managing agents have changed over 6 times and from records, the last one was done by a commissioner under my government during my first tenure. Whether the agent has changed or not, the facts available are clear. The total annual estimated income if and when it is paid in full by our agent is put at N34 million but even this amount was never realised in any one year, certainly not since I assumed office and you all know how hard I have tried to collect every revenue available to Edo State but the record of my predecessors shows that even the return was even less as at their time. If we assumed without conceding that we have been able to realise in any one year N34 million in 10 years, it will attract N340 million and if you pay 5% to the estate manager, your net would be N340 million in ten years minus ten percent. In 20 years, it would be N620 million and in 40 years, we would have made N1. 36billion. I want to imagine that we have seasoned estate managers. I also want to recall that when I was chairman of the Nigeria Social Security Trust Fund, we were involved in acquiring real estate and I was told by the experts then that in trying to put value, whether it is viable to buy landed property, you are looking at a possibility of between 12 and 14 years if you cant recover your investment it is not considered a viable asset. So when I say that Edo House, it is not viable because I believe whether by reason of its location and what it might require to re-position it would be worth couple of billions. I would be shocked certainly if anybody tells me it would be less than that. Some have suggested that you re-invest in it than an outright sale? Yes, it is an option. We can decide to rebuild or renovate but it would require more than half a billion naira to put the property in a rentable state to compete side by side with other properties in that neighbourhood. As your governor and steward, who has got the privilege of collecting your taxes and putting those taxes into best use, the issue for me is: will it be in the interest of Edo people that I collect half a billion and take it to Lagos and re-invest it so that we can collect more rent? If we collect more rent how many years? What is the commercial purpose? But some share the sentiment that the Edo House represents a monument that needs to be preserved for generation yet unborn? I have heard some people say that and I have tried to search for the meaning of the word monument in the oxford dictionary. Edo House is not one of our tourist attractions and there is no big history behind it. It does not depict our traditional value neither was it design by an architect that had in mind the peculiar Edo culture. And if anybody says it represents our culture or it is a monument, then I stand to be educated. A monument cannot be an asset that would be so bad that nobody here would say he went to Lagos last week and stayed there. However, my first choice in arriving at the decision to sell was is in line with our commitment to raise revenue from any legitimate source as we can in order to rebuild Edo State. Government, no matter how hard we tried never seem to get full value from property the way a private person would do, no matter how strong hardened top layer of government would be. Some people have converted it to hotel and for short stay even the rate is not being paid. I had to take your tax payers’ money to hire a Senior Advocate and the case is running for at least three years now. As we speak, ejecting those tenants has not been possible and if things go the way they are, the matter will not be settled during my tenure. We are living painfully with an individual who is defrauding the Edo State Government. For an individual property owner, there are many options to get rid of your tenants. For me, I’m very clear of my mandate and obligation and it is to develop Edo State and not Lagos State because I’m committed to divest in Lagos and re-invest in Edo. We are not set out to be collecting rent from rooms and parlous. When I was campaigning, I didn’t promise that I was going to build houses for rent because no government is about that. You just talked about divesting to re-invest the proceeds back to Edo State. What area of investment is your concern? I believe Edo State needs a convention centre. It is my conviction that Edo State needs to be a tourist centre because we have a lot of historic centre to attract tourists in all the 18 local government areas. For Edo to truly become a tourist destination, there are certain infrastructure that must be put in place, not just a five-star hotel but one with convention facilities. In Edo, we have various hotels but certainly not a 5-star and we do not have any conference hall. You do not want to host any event where all the participants are scattered in different hotels and before now, going round Benin City, I observed the location of the military hospital and I was told why and when it was built but given today’s reality of Benin City, the military barrack is at Ekenwa and we have discussed with the military and they have given approval in principle to cede the place with the Chief of Army Staff. The land can be put to better use for the good of Edo people. In selling Edo House, the proceed will be used to build a five-star hotel and we will subsequently privatise it in a transparent manner because experience has shown that government is not a good manager of business based on current reality, so that we do not owe it 100% depending on who is coming into it with the government. Are you aware of the speculations that you have already sold the house to yourself? One of my friends who do not like me now because according him, I took his land and gave it to a company to build a shopping mall and he alleged that I have sold the house 60% to myself and 40% to what he described as a non-biological son. I’m not an angel but am not a greedy person and I pray that I will never become so greedy that I want to become the owner of Edo State, and that is not in my prayers. I will never sell Edo asset to myself or my agent, I don’t need to do that. So, those who wrote those things will do that if they were in my position; that is exactly what they will do. As a governor, I have record which shows that one of our senators is currently occupying a government land that an Edo State governor allegedly sold to him for less than a million naira. Some have been sold and if we publish them, some people will develop convulsion.
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 06:04:06 +0000
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