Two months after launch, Nigerian govt’s ‘Propati Tracka’ yet to track any new property

Over two months since the Federal Government launched its new online platform ‘Propati Tracka’, it is yet to serve its purpose, Ripples Nigeria has learnt.

Launched in Abuja on July 12, 2018, by the Federal Government through the Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), the online platform was described as one of the efforts of the present administration to fight against corruption, according to Okoi Obono-Obla, Special Adviser and Head, Special Investigative Panel for Recovery of Property, who represented President Muhammadu Buhari.

President Buhari had said the idea was aimed at exposing corrupt Nigerians who have stashed public funds in luxury properties across the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and managing the recovered properties for the benefits of ordinary citizens.

According to ANEEJ, Propati Tracka seeks to use technology to unmask owners of illegally acquired properties in three high-brow districts of Abuja – Maitama, Asokoro and Wuse.

To kick off the programme, the Federal Government said it would collaborate with ANEEJ to make available 200 names of people with illegally-acquired properties in Maitama, Abuja.

“That is why we have intensified fight against corruption. Anybody that has taken what does not belong to him should return it back to Nigeria, otherwise, we are going to track him down and force him to return the money back to Nigeria, and we are starting by providing names of 200 past and present public service holders with massive properties in Maitama Abuja,” Obla said.

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But our findings on Propati Tracka (www.propatitraka.com) have revealed that no new illegal property has been tracked successfully so far, suggesting that the programme has not recorded any achievement since its launch in July.

Currently, only information about seven properties could be found on the platform, of which six of the properties have been confiscated and one is under litigation.

Rather for Propati Tracka to provide a real-time tracking of properties illegally acquired in Abuja, the platform simply aggregated previously reported cases of properties owned illegally within Maitama, Asokoro and Wuse districts of Abuja from various news sources.

These cases of seizure of properties by the country’s anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), had been reported years before the launch of Propati Tracka across major news platforms.

Among these reported cases which the platform listed as tracked properties include; a shopping plaza worth N980 million, known as Capadar Plaza, at Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, Wuse 2, Abuja allegedly owned by Air Vice Marshal Jacob Adigun (rtd.), a former Chief of Accounts and Budgeting, Nigerian Air force, reported in Punch Newspapers on June 27, 2016.

Another is a property belonging to Air Marshal Mohammed Dikko Umar at 14, Vistula Close off Panama Street, Maitama, Abuja, reported in The Nation Newspapers on June 7, 2017, and a duplex located at 61A, Lake Chad Street, Maitama, Abuja, owned by Air Marshal Adesola Amosun (rtd.) was reported in the Vanguard Newspapers on May 14, 2018.

A property valued at $18 million recovered from the former Minister for Petroleum, Diezani Alison Maduekwe in 2016 at Plot 10, Frederick Chiluba Close, Asokoro, Abuja; and Houses worth N872 million located at 1 and 3 Mariam Muktar Street Asokoro and Apo area belonging to former FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, recovered in 2016 were parts of the “tracked” properties.

Others include a N1.1 billion mansion seized from the former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh (rtd.) at Plot 6, Ogun River Crescent, Maitama, Abuja in 2016, and a property located in Plot 3634, IBB Way, Maitama Abuja and belonging to Mr Anonymous, which could have been termed as an achievement, was yet to be confirmed as it was still under litigation.

By Oluwasegun Olakoyenikan….

 

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