President Bola Tinubu has approved the immediate dissolution of the Presidential Implementation Committee on the Alienation of Federal Government Properties, ending the operations of the over two-decade-old body responsible for overseeing the sale, lease and privatisation of federal landed assets.
The President also directed the committee’s Secretary, B.S. Dutsin-Ma, to immediately cease acting or presenting himself as a representative of the dissolved committee or the Federal Government on matters relating to its activities.
The directive was contained in a statement issued on Thursday by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
According to the Presidency, all matters previously handled by the committee will henceforth be coordinated by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN).
Onanuga quoted the President as saying, “The President has approved the immediate dissolution of the Presidential Implementation Committee (PIC) on the Alienation of Federal Government Properties.
“Henceforth, all matters relating to the activities of the Committee will be coordinated by the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi.”
The committee was established in 2000 under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo to implement the Federal Government’s monetisation policy, particularly the privatisation, sale and lease of government-owned landed assets.
It was chaired by the then Minister of Housing and included representatives of the Federal Ministries of Justice, Transportation, Health and Agriculture, as well as the Nigeria Police Force and other stakeholders from the public and private sectors.
Professor P.T. Ahire, then a Deputy Director in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, served as the committee’s pioneer secretary.
The Presidency recalled that the Federal Executive Council, on March 22, 2001, approved the establishment of a panel of inquiry to produce a White Paper to guide the implementation of recommendations concerning the committee’s operations.
According to the statement, the panel worked for 21 months before submitting its report.
The Presidency, however, said the Tinubu administration found that the committee had exceeded the mandate for which it was created.
It stated that the committee’s activities had expanded beyond its original responsibilities, leading to multiple litigations 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,” Onanuga said.
Consequently, Tinubu ordered that all responsibilities relating to the committee be transferred to the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation.
The Presidency said the directive takes effect retrospectively from November 5, 2025.
It added that the committee had ceased to exist, while Dutsin-Ma had been expressly instructed to stop acting on behalf of the dissolved body or the Federal Government on any matter connected with its activities.
“Following the President’s directive, the PIC stands dissolved, and the erstwhile Secretary, B.S. Dutsin-Ma, is hereby further directed to cease acting on behalf of the committee and the Federal Government on related matters,” the statement added.
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