ABUJA, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)-President Bola Tinubu has approved the immediate dissolution of the Presidential Implementation Committee (PIC) on the Alienation of Federal Government Properties, ending the operations of the 25-year-old body established during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The President also directed that all responsibilities previously handled by the committee be transferred to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi.
The directive was announced in a statement issued on Thursday by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
According to the statement, the dissolution took effect from November 5, 2025, while the committee’s former Secretary, B. S. Dutsin-Ma, has been instructed to immediately stop acting on behalf of both the committee and the Federal Government on matters relating to its mandate.
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The Presidency explained that the decision followed a comprehensive review which revealed that the committee had exceeded the scope of its original mandate, leading to numerous legal disputes across the country.
It noted that the committee’s continued existence was no longer necessary.
“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 read.
The Presidential Implementation Committee was created in 2000 under the Obasanjo administration to supervise the privatisation, sale and lease of Federal Government landed assets as part of the government’s monetisation policy.
The policy was introduced as part of a broader reform agenda aimed at converting government-owned assets, including residential properties and official vehicles, into revenue while ending the provision of non-cash benefits to public servants.
The committee was chaired by the then Minister of Housing and included representatives from the Ministries of Transportation, Justice, Health and Agriculture, as well as the Nigeria Police Force. Professor P. T. Ahire, who served as a Deputy Director in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, was appointed as its pioneer Secretary.
On March 22, 2001, the Federal Executive Council approved the establishment of a Panel of Inquiry tasked with producing a White Paper to guide the implementation of the committee’s recommendations. The panel completed its assignment after 21 months and submitted its report.
Although the monetisation policy became one of the landmark administrative reforms of the Obasanjo administration, its implementation remained contentious, giving rise to thousands of disputes over property valuations and sales, allegations of undervaluation, claims of irregular transactions involving politically connected individuals, and prolonged litigation.