President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the immediate dissolution of the Presidential Implementation Committee (PIC) on the Alienation of Federal Government Properties, bringing an end to a body that has overseen the disposal and management of federal landed assets for more than two decades.
The directive 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 responsibilities previously handled by the committee will now be coordinated by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN).
The Presidential Implementation Committee was established in 2000 during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. It was created to supervise the privatisation, sale, and lease of Federal Government landed properties under the Federal Government’s monetisation policy.
The committee was chaired by the then Minister of Housing and included representatives from key government institutions, including the Ministries of Transportation, Justice, Health, Agriculture, and the Nigeria Police Force. Professor P.T. Ahire, who served as a Deputy Director in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, was appointed as the pioneer Secretary, while additional members were drawn from both the public and private sectors.
As part of its operations, the Federal Executive Council on March 22, 2001, approved the establishment of a Panel of Inquiry tasked with producing a White Paper to guide the implementation of the committee’s recommendations. The panel spent 21 months conducting its assignment before submitting its final report.
However, the Federal Government explained that the committee’s activities had gradually expanded beyond the responsibilities for which it was originally established. This development reportedly resulted in numerous legal disputes across different parts of the country, prompting the government to review the committee’s relevance.
Following the review, President Tinubu concluded that the committee had outlived its usefulness and directed that it be dissolved with immediate effect. Consequently, the Attorney General of the Federation will assume full responsibility for coordinating all pending matters previously handled by the committee, with effect from November 5, 2025.
The President also instructed the committee’s former Secretary, B. S. Dutsin-Ma, to immediately cease representing the dissolved committee or the Federal Government on any matters relating to its former responsibilities.
The dissolution marks a significant administrative restructuring aimed at centralising the management of issues relating to the alienation of Federal Government properties under the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation.
