A serving cabinet member, who is a substantive minister, it was learnt, was summoned by the Presidency to explain how he came about the funds for the purchase of the house, which is located in the highbrow area of Abuja. The Presidency got wind of the purchase following a petition to the president.
It was also gathered that the minister, who was staying in an N8
million per annum rented apartment when he became a cabinet member in
2015, has already moved to the palatial house with his security details.
The minister had told the Presidency that he secured the property with a mortgage.
“The president summoned him following the receipt of the petition
against him that he bought a house of N280 million for residential
purposes."
The minister explained that he took a loan from one of the banks to fund the payment.
“Of course, the Presidency wasn’t satisfied with his explanation
because it is begging the question. How does he intend to fund the loan
from his salary, especially when he didn’t purchase the house for
commercial purposes?” the source said. The source noted that the
minister, who claimed that he doesn’t have the cash to fund such a
purchase, but relied on bank loan that will be payable over a period of
time, is already moving around to ensure that the issue is quelled
within the Presidency.
“I think the question to ask the minister is when and how does
he intend to pay the loan back? A minister’s take-home is less than N1
million, even if he doesn’t touch one naira from his salary and used it
as payment for the loan in the course of his fouryear stay as a
minister, it doesn’t still meet up with the loan at all. So, how can you
fight corruption when things like these happen among even members of
the cabinet?”
New Telegraph learnt that many ministers, except those that are
former governors, lawmakers and FCT minister have problems with
accommodation since their swearing-in late 2015.
Owing to the paucity of funds, some of the cabinet members were
forced to squat with friends and relatives. However, New Telegraph
gathered that three months ago, the Minister of FCT, Mohammed Bello,
gave forms for the processing of lands to the ministers.
One of the ministers confirmed the development, but said nothing
has been heard after the submission of the forms by the cabinet members.
Another top source who lamented the plight of the ministers, especially
those who are coming to public service for the first time, in Abuja,
said that all that government has been doing is to just empathise with
the affected ministers without any concrete solution.
He said: “Last year, a member of the cabinet who was squatting
with a family friend since 2015 was ejected from the apartment he was
managing when the children of the owner of the property returned from
abroad. In fact, it was shameful because he was given less than a week
notice to move out.
“The minister even contemplated resigning at a point. It’s that
bad. Many of the ministers are yet to fully settle down and some
haven’t even been able to relocate their families to Abuja, hence, they
shuttle on a regular basis to visit their families. “Of course, former
governors like Babatunde Fashola, Rotimi Amaechi, Kayode Fayemi and
Chris Ngige, the FCT Minister, as well as former federal legislators in
the cabinet like Aisha Alhassan, Hadi Sirika, Hajia Khadija Bukar
Ibrahim and Heineken Lokpobiri, among others, may not be feeling the
accommodation crisis because they benefitted from the monetisation
policy of the past government as legislators.” Under the current package, ministers are entitled to N4,052,800 as housing allowance per annum.
The housing allowance is 200 per cent of a minister’s annual remuneration.
According to the remuneration package set by the Revenue
Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), a substantive
minister will earn N2,026,400 annual basic salary, while a minister of
state is to get N1.8 million per annum.
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