The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission on Monday said it had recovered over N3bn from defaulters in the sale of Federal Government houses to the Federal Capital Development Authority.
A statement from the commission, which was signed by its spokesperson, Rasheedat Okoduwa, said ICPC had handed over to government its latest recovery, totalling N28.2m apart from the N3.8bn earlier recovered since 2017.
It said, “ICPC has handed over N28.2m recovered from defaulters in the sale of federal government houses to the Federal Capital Development Authority.
“This is in addition to over N3.8bn the commission had previously recovered for FCDA since 2017 when it began tracking down beneficiaries of the Federal Government’s housing owner-occupier scheme for government workers who had defaulted in their payments and those who had outrightly refused to pay.
“Federal Government had in 2005, introduced a policy which allowed public servants to buy-off government houses and pay back over a period of time.”
ICPC said that despite the soft payment plan, many of the buyers defaulted in their payments after paying the initial sums that gave them the right of ownership of the properties, while some others completely failed to make any payments. It added that lack of commitment of the workers to their financial responsibility over the property propelled FCDA to contact the commission for help in recovering the money from the defaulters.
It noted, “Mr Olatunji Jabaru of Asset Tracing, Recovery and Management Unit, ICPC, who handed over the money to the representative of FCDA, Mrs Omole Segun, noted that effort was on-going to recover more money from the defaulters.”
