President Bola Tinubu has dissolved the Presidential Implementation Committee (PIC) on the Sale, Privatisation and Leasing of Federal Government Properties, bringing an end to a body that has overseen the disposal of federal real estate for more than two decades.

The President has also transferred responsibility for coordinating all matters relating to the committee’s mandate to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN.

The directive, which takes immediate effect, was announced in a statement issued yesterday by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.

According to the statement, the committee, established under former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2000 as part of the Federal Government’s monetisation policy, was created to supervise the privatisation, sale and leasing of Federal Government lands and properties.

Onanuga said the dissolution reflected a restructuring of the Federal Government’s property disposal framework, with the Ministry of Justice now assuming responsibility for coordinating all related matters.

He recalled that the committee was chaired by the then Minister of Housing and included representatives of the Ministries of Transportation, Justice, Health and Agriculture, as well as the Nigeria Police Force. Prof. P. T. Ahire, then a Deputy Director in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF), served as its pioneer secretary, while other members were drawn from both the public and private sectors.

The presidential spokesman noted that the Federal Executive Council (FEC), on March 22, 2001, approved the establishment of a Panel of Inquiry to produce a White Paper to guide the implementation of the committee’s recommendations.

The panel worked for 21 months before submitting its report.

Explaining the rationale for the committee’s dissolution, Onanuga said the government found that the committee’s activities had drifted beyond its original mandate, leading to numerous litigations across the country.