Due to delay in disposing of recovered items and immovable assets forfeited to the Federal Government, Nigeria is currently losing huge sums running into trillions of naira, Nigeria Association of Auctioneers (NAA) has disclosed.

The National President, Alhaji Aliyu Mohammed Kiliya, during an interactive session with journalists, at the weekend, in Abuja, regretted that due to delay in disposing the forfeited items, lots of the properties had been dilapidated, resulting in depreciated value.
   
He said the affected institutions include: the Federal Ministry of Justice, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) and the Ministry of Defence.
 
The NAA boss stated: stated: “I am worried that these items are losing their original value day by day, as a result of technical deformation, vandalism, weather effect, age, among others.
  
“Unless quick disposal is undertaken, the Federal Government will not generate as much as it expected. I use this opportunity to call on agencies in custody or saddled with disposal to speed up the process of sales to remedy the situation.”
  
While sharing his experience as a consultant auctioneer, Kiliya explained that in his over 40 years of practice, government “is always interested in generating maximum revenue from such recovered assets by inviting experienced auctioneers to dispose of the items to mitigate further losses.”
  
He blamed administrative red tape for the unnecessary hiccup, advising: “Further, professional measures should be put in place for the disposal of public properties. The organisations saddled with disposal of these assets should ensure that any auctioneer they engage has the requisite experience.”

Kiliya commended managements of NELMCO and Nigerian Navy, Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) for compliance.
 
He recalled that professional services entail providing a level playing field for buyers to bid freely for auctioned items, adding: “The auction would not only generate revenue for the government but also help the government in disposing hard sale items among other benefits.”