Govt To Renovate Abandoned Overseas Properties

By Clement Alphonsus

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, and the Director-General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Michael Ohiani, have met in Abuja to fashion out alternative funding sources to uphold the country’s mission abroad and develop or acquire new properties for newly set-up missions.

Speaking at the inaugural meeting, the minister noted that funding has become a major problem for the ministry with many of its properties being undeveloped, under-utilised or poorly maintained.

“If you go on a tour to some of our facilities what you would see would make you want to cry. So, we have been trying to find some kind of solution to the challenges,” he said.

Citing an instance, Onyeama said one of Nigeria’s diplomatic buildings was now in a commercially busy area with a nightclub right in front of it.

“We want to turn those prime properties into money-making ventures, so, we have been looking for partners to come on board. We have to come up with a business model that works and is sustainable, we have to do something about these properties that we own and have an inventory of all our assets,” he said.

Giving insight into the move, Janet Olisa, who oversees the Office of the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, said that the ministry wanted to use proceeds from the PPP initiative to maintain its missions and properties abroad.

“We have properties but we don’t want to sell, we need the revenue generated from these properties to take care of the properties that we are using.

“We want to be able to do a PPP arrangement where the ministry brings in the property while the private investor brings the funds to revitalise the properties,” she said.

On his part, the Director General of ICRC, Michael Ohiani, said the ICRC was set up to regulate such infrastructure development and management using private sector funding.

“We have reviewed the situation about our properties abroad and taken into consideration the economic losses, diplomatic embarrassment and security risks, we have come up with ideas to bring them to optimal utilisation,” he said.

He assured the minister of the commitment of the Commission to see the proposed projects to fruition, adding that a team from ICRC would be ready to work with the newly inaugurated PPP unit to actualise the goals of the ministry.