It is troubling to hear that the Nigeria House in New York, USA, is up for sale. The reported planned sale of the property, which serves as the official residence of Nigeria’s permanent representative to the United Nations in New York has been under consideration since 2010. It is claimed that the property is in very bad repair, due to “a period of deliberate neglect”. This is unfortunate. Located in the exquisite Tarry Town in Westchester County, an area that is the preserve of the wealthy in New York, the property sits on over 16 acres of land. It was bought in 1960, when the Tafawa Balewa government made Africa the focus of Nigeria’s foreign policy and did everything to exhibit seriousness at the United Nations.

It is sad that 52 years after its purchase, some government officials are scheming to sell it. What is not clear is why. The common conjecture is that, like almost every aspect of Nigeria’s existence, it has suffered incalculable decay over the years. This is unfortunate. It is said that a whopping N350m is required to fix it. That in itself is criminally high, but the raison d’être of this can be found in the more confounding revelation that the government ‘smuggled’ a higher quote of N2.7bn into the last budget for the rehabilitation of the crumbling building.

We suspect that the aim was to deter any attempt to repair the property and encourage its cheap sale instead. We reckon this to be a ploy by those in the corridors of power, to convert the house by proxy to their private property.

Phantom sales are what successive Nigerian governments have done with national assets worldwide. Under the guise of paying off some legal debt or for services rendered by foreign partners, they
are sold and the money lodged in private accounts. At times, the proceeds are said to have been confiscated by ghost creditors, who got court orders to do so. Such an asinine practice!

Nigerians will not forget in a hurry how the government, under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, held a bazaar in the name of monetisation, without thinking through its implications for succeeding public officers. Recently, the Federal Capital Territory coughed out N3bn to build new houses for principal officers of the National Assembly. The proposed sale is deceitful and meant to fleece the masses, who paid for the property in the first place.

As representatives of the people, members of the National Assembly should frustrate the plans of the economic saboteurs and enemies of Nigeria bent on selling the property. Clearly, it is within the purview of their oversight responsibility to ensure probity and accountability in governance. It is a much better idea to fund the renovation of the property, after a transparent and competitive bid might have been conducted. Also, the issue of ‘false budgeting’ highlights serious moral issues that should be investigated.


http://leadership.ng/news/131113/don-t-sell-nigeria-house

Ok . .