President Bola Tinubu has approved the immediate dissolution of the Presidential Implementation Committee on the Alienation of Federal Government Properties, a body created 25 years ago during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The President has also transferred the committee’s responsibilities to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi.
According to a statement issued on Thursday by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the dissolution took effect on November 5, 2025. The former secretary of the committee, B. S. Dutsin-Ma, has been directed to stop acting on behalf of the committee and the Federal Government on all related issues.
The Presidency said the decision followed a review of the committee’s operations, which showed that it had moved beyond its initial mandate and become linked to several legal disputes across the country.
“After careful consideration, the government has noted that the activities of the PIC had extended beyond its original mandate, resulting in multiple litigations across the country, and the continued existence of the committee is no longer justified,” the statement said.
Established in 2000 under the Obasanjo administration, the committee was created to oversee the privatisation, sale and leasing of federal government properties as part of the government’s monetisation policy.
The policy was designed to convert government-owned assets, including official residences, vehicles and other facilities, into revenue while ending the practice of providing certain benefits to public officials in kind.
The committee was made up of the Minister of Housing as chairman, along with representatives from the Ministries of Transportation, Justice, Health and Agriculture, the Nigeria Police Force and other government institutions. Professor P. T. Ahire, then a Deputy Director in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, served as its pioneer secretary.
In March 2001, the Federal Executive Council approved the creation of an inquiry panel to prepare a White Paper that would guide the implementation of the committee’s recommendations. The panel submitted its report after 21 months of work.
Although the monetisation programme became one of the major administrative reforms of the Obasanjo era, its implementation was followed by years of disputes. The sale and valuation of government properties sparked allegations of undervaluation, claims of irregular transactions involving politically connected individuals and numerous court cases nationwide.
