The Enugu State Governor, Dr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah has expressed profound gratitude to the Federal Government for ceding 14 assets back to the people and government of Enugu State.
Acknowledging the proactive response of the President of Federal Republic Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the Enugu State Government’s request for the forfeited properties, Governor Mbah is optimistic that the assets which have been dormant for 17 years will be put to adequate use in growing the state’s Gross Domestic Product.
“We are committed to grow the economy of our state 7fold, have a compound annual growth rate of 27% and what it means is that there shall be no idle asset.”
“Part of how we grow the economy, grow the GDP, generate revenue, create wealth for our people will be to transform our dormant assets into productive assets; the state will deploy the assets to the benefit of the people of Enugu state,” Governor Mbah said.
The Enugu State Governor stated this on Wednesday at the EFCC corporate headquarters, Abuja during the handover ceremony of the properties.
In his speech, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, revealed that the prosecution which led to confiscation of the assets by the Commission dates back to 2007.
“The matter has been for 17 years; eventually, some of the properties were forfeited and since then, the EFCC has been managing those properties even though the titles of quite a number of the properties have been revoked by the Enugu State government.”
“What we are witnessing today testifies to a symbiotic relationship that should exist between the federal government and the state governments. The essence of our meeting here today is for us to hand over properties that were forfeited to the federal government, which of course belong to Enugu State people back to the people. It shows that governance can work in Nigeria. Our people deserve the benefits of good governance and that is what is being evidenced here today,” EFCC Chairman said.
Recall that Justice Mohammed Yinusa of the Federal High Court, Lagos on July 8, 2015 convicted four companies associated with the former Governor of Enugu State, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani; properties of those companies were forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The four companies are Rainbownet Nigeria Limited, Cosmos FM, Capital City Automobile Nigeria Limited and Renaissance University Teaching Hospital.
In the month of May 2015, the companies pleaded guilty to a 10-count amended charge brought against them by the EFCC.
