Rita Enemuru, Reporting
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has refuted claims circulating round WhatsApp platforms that a certain former Chairman of the Agency sold off its headquarters office buildings in Ikoyi, Lagos State.
In a statement issued by the Agency’s Director, Media & Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, the agency refuted the claims saying the said building did not belong to NDLEA in the first place.
Stating that the claims were a distortion of facts, NDLEA stated that the buildings served as its National Headquarters before its relocation to Abuja some years ago.
The statement asserted that the sales of the buildings were as a result of a directive from the government to sell and remit proceedings of vacated or underutilised government properties to the Federal Government by the Presidential Implementation Committee (PIC) on Federal Government Landed Properties.
The statement also added that 70 per cent of the Agency’s headquarters staff moved to Abuja while the remaining 30 per cent are still in Shaw road office, Ikoyi awaiting movement to the Abuja main headquarters as of the time of relocation.
The statement reads: “The Agency wishes to state that buildings referred to in the circulating piece, which did not belong to it in the first place, served as its National Headquarters before its relocation to Abuja some years ago.
“It should be noted that a Presidential Implementation Committee (PIC) on Federal Government Landed Properties took over the buildings following a government directive that all vacated or underutilised government properties be taken over by the PIC, sold and proceeds paid to Federal Government coffers.
“At the time of relocation, 70% of the Agencys headquarters staff moved to Abuja while the remaining 30% are still in Shaw road office, Ikoyi.
“This remaining 30% will soon join the main headquarters in Abuja as soon as the new HQ building, recently bought by the Federal Government for the Agency is ready for occupation.
“Like other Federal Government agencies whose properties were taken over by the PIC, NDLEA has no hand in the sale of the mentioned properties and does not know who bought them and for how much, as the presidential committee solely handled the sale.
“The challenge before the Agency at the moment is how to remove our officers and men who live within communities where they are exposed to dangers into secure barracks accommodation, a concern already being addressed by the Federal Government through budgetary provisions for the construction of such barracks across the country beginning from this year.
“Members of the public are therefore urged to disregard the anonymous write up which is nothing but an embodiment of distortion and mischief.