Multi-million naira assets rot away as auction stalls

Multi-million naira assets rot away as auction stalls

By: Michael Mike

Assets valued at millions of naira are rotting away at various locations across the country as the planned auction of the items by the Ministry of Water Resources failed to hold.p

The items, which included unserviceable earth-moving machines and other heavy-duty industrial equipment, had been abandoned at various sites by the ministry for several years, where they have been overtaken by weeds.

Findings indicate that many of the machinery are located in the Gurara dam in Niger State, Upper and Lower Benue in Doma and across other sites.

The ministry, in a publication dated August 20, 2025, signed by Moses Jo-Madugu, Chairman of the Board of Scraps and Unserviceable Items Committee, announced its plan to carry out an auction of the items.

But sources said the planned auction was stalled due to an alleged conflict of interest among senior ministry officials.

Speaking on the development, the President, Nigeria Association of Auctioneers, Musa Kurra, said the ministry appeared to be playing games over the planned disposal of the items, noting that the officials have refused to follow the due process.

He stated that: “Since August 20, 2025 when the ministry published an advertorial in the Blueprint Newspaper about the planned auction of the heavy-duty machinery and other scraps and unserviceable assets, the officials have kept mum. They refused to release further information about the auction.

‘’First, the advert is defective and vague; it was supposed to invite auctioneers to submit applications for appointment to sell on their behalf, but this was not done. Also, there were supposed to be second and follow-up adverts for the announcement of dates and location of sales to the public, but this was also not done. Everything is done in secrecy.

“Worse still, they are not involving auctioneers who, by law, are legally mandated to supervise the auction processes. What we learnt is that they have been taking some contractors to the sites where the assets have been left abandoned for several years to rot away. This equipment was bought at millions of naira, but, unfortunately, they were abandoned under the sun and rain and allowed to go bad.’’

He added that: “Now that the government can recover some money from these assets, the ministry has been playing hide-and-seek and refusing to provide clear information on the auction exercise. This is unacceptable to the Nigeria Association of Auctioneers. We demand that the right thing be done. The Ministry of Water Resources must carry us along, provide the necessary guidelines and ensure that the process leading to the auction and the auction itself are transparent and credible. Our objective is for the government to get value from the auction.”

Multi-million naira assets rot away as auction stalls