Ekiti State Government has said that federal agencies occupying houses belonging to the State Government must comply with the government directive to either buy the properties they are presently occupying or pay rent on them.
The government, which reacted to news report that it evicted the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, (NSCDC) Ekiti State command and other Federal ministries and agencies from their various offices, said: “Yearly, budgetary provisions are made for payment of rent by federal government agencies, which has no permanent offices across the 36 States of the federation and we wonder why those that have been occupying properties belonging to the Ekiti State government for over 10 years do not want to pay rent or make the properties theirs by buying them.”
In a statement issued on Thursday by Governor Ayodele Fayose’s Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, the government disclosed that some of the agencies had purchased the properties they were occupying while others like National Population Commission (NPC) had promised to pay next week.
The statement read in part: “As at today, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) have paid N5.5 million and N10.8 million respectively for outright purchase of the properties they are occupying.
“Even the NSCDC is already offering to pay N18 million instead of the N27 million it ought to pay.
“The Nigerian Prison Service, which is occupying properties valued at N108 million is insisting that it won’t pay and we have given a seven-day ultimatum for all the federal agencies to either purchase the properties, pay rent or quit.
“We are yet to evict them. We gave them notice of one year and we have now giving another seven days. There is no going back.”
