Tinubu dissolves presidential committee on alienation of federal properties, hands oversight to AGF

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the immediate dissolution of the Presidential Implementation Committee (PIC) on the Alienation of Federal Government Properties, bringing to an end the operations of a committee that has overseen the privatisation, sale and lease of federal government landed assets for more than two decades.

The decision 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, all matters relating to the activities of the dissolved committee will henceforth be coordinated by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi.

The committee was established in 2000 during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo as part of the Federal Government’s monetisation policy. It was mandated to supervise the alienation of federal government properties through privatisation, sales and leases.

Its membership comprised the then Minister of Housing as chairperson, representatives of the Ministries of Transportation, Justice, Health and Agriculture, as well as the Nigeria Police Force. Professor P. T. Ahire, then a Deputy Director in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, served as the pioneer secretary, while other members were drawn from both the public and private sectors.

The Presidency recalled that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the establishment of a Panel of Inquiry on March 22, 2001, to examine the committee’s operations and produce a White Paper to guide the implementation of its recommendations.

The panel worked for 21 months before submitting its report.

Explaining the rationale for the dissolution, the Presidency said the government observed that the activities of the committee had expanded beyond its original mandate, leading to multiple litigations across the country.

It added that, after careful consideration, the continued existence of the committee was no longer justified.

President Tinubu consequently directed that the Attorney General of the Federation should assume responsibility for coordinating all matters relating to the committee’s activities with effect from November 5, 2025.

The President also directed the immediate cessation of all actions by the former Secretary of the committee, B. S. Dutsin-Ma, on behalf of the dissolved committee and the Federal Government in matters relating to its operations.

The dissolution is expected to centralise the management of pending issues relating to the alienation of federal government properties under the supervision of the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation, as the administration moves to streamline the handling of related legal and administrative matters.