**TrackNews Online Investigation**
The Federal Ministry of Livestock Development, under Minister Idi Mukhtar Maiha and Permanent Secretary Dr Chinyere Ijeoma Akujobi, paid ₦8.94 billion to an inactive estate surveying and valuation firm, Osas and Oseji, for the procurement of a multipurpose office complex whose location, ownership, valuation and contractual details are not disclosed in the ministry’s payment records.
A TrackNews investigation into the ministry’s expenditure records reveals that the payment, made on September 17, 2025, was captured under payment reference number 1001324085-1, with a brief description: *”Being Payment for the Procurement of a multipurpose Office Complex/Building.”*
However, the payment record provides no address for the property, no plot or title reference, no contract number, no valuation report and no clarification on whether the ₦8.94 billion represents the full purchase price or an instalment.
The transaction raises serious questions about the procurement process, particularly because the payment was made to a company whose status on the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) register is listed as inactive.
### ₦8.94 BILLION CONSUMES 90.55% OF MINISTRY’S TOTAL EXPENDITURE
The Federal Ministry of Livestock Development was established by President Bola Tinubu on July 9, 2024, as part of his administration’s livestock development reforms.
Idi Mukhtar Maiha was subsequently sworn in as the pioneer minister on November 4, 2024, while Dr Chinyere Ijeoma Akujobi serves as the ministry’s Permanent Secretary and chief accounting officer.
An examination of the ministry’s payment ledger shows that between July 29, 2025, and May 13, 2026, the ministry made 32 payments amounting to ₦9,872,925,368.05.
Out of this amount, ₦8.94 billion went to Osas and Oseji for the office complex, representing approximately 90.55 per cent of the ministry’s entire recorded expenditure within the period.
In other words, almost every ₦10 spent by the ministry during the period included approximately ₦9 spent on the unidentified office complex.
The scale of the transaction makes the absence of basic property and procurement details particularly significant.
### PAYEE IS AN INACTIVE ESTATE VALUATION FIRM
Further examination of the identity of the beneficiary reveals another concern.
Osas and Oseji is not identified as a construction company or property development firm. Its professional background is in estate surveying and valuation.
The firm’s own materials identify Osas D. Aigbekaen as its founding partner in Abuja and Hyacinth Oseji as its principal partner in Port Harcourt.
Corporate Affairs Commission records identify the company as Osas and Oseji, with registration number RC 2029697, incorporated on May 13, 2007. Its status is listed as inactive.
The payment record does not explain the company’s precise role in the transaction.
It remains unclear whether Osas and Oseji was the actual owner and seller of the property, an intermediary that brokered the acquisition, or a professional firm engaged to conduct the valuation.
More importantly, the publicly available payment record does not identify the building, its location, its previous owner or the valuation report used to determine its ₦8.94 billion price tag.
TrackNews has not established from the payment record whether the company received the money as the property owner or in another professional capacity.
### TINUBU HAD EARLIER DIRECTED FCTA TO PROVIDE A GOVERNMENT BUILDING
The ₦8.94 billion expenditure also raises questions about the ministry’s earlier accommodation arrangements.
In September 2024, President Tinubu directed the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to renovate the former headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, located in Abuja’s Central Business District, and hand it over to the newly established Ministry of Livestock Development.
On September 25, 2024, FCT Minister Nyesom Wike inspected the building as part of the emergency renovation arrangements.
The directive suggested that the new ministry would be accommodated in an existing government-owned facility rather than immediately undertake a multibillion-naira property acquisition.
However, during its 2025 budget defence before the National Assembly, the ministry informed lawmakers that it was operating from offices provided by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation while discussions continued with the FCT Minister over securing a permanent office.
The ministry also disclosed that it had requested ₦10 billion in capital expenditure and ₦1.8 billion in overhead costs for 2025, bringing its total budget request to ₦11.8 billion.
The ministry described the proposed allocation as inadequate for its take-off activities.
Interestingly, the ₦8.94 billion subsequently paid to Osas and Oseji represents approximately 89.4 per cent of the entire ₦10 billion capital allocation the ministry had requested for 2025.
### MAIHA LATER TOLD LAWMAKERS THAT ₦10 BILLION CAPITAL VOTE WAS NOT RELEASED
The financial questions surrounding the transaction become more significant when considered alongside the minister’s subsequent explanation to the National Assembly.
On February 20, 2026, approximately five months after the payment, Minister Maiha appeared before the joint committee of the National Assembly and disclosed that although ₦70 billion had been approved as the ministry’s take-off fund, only ₦20 billion had been released.
He further told lawmakers that the ₦10 billion appropriated as the ministry’s 2025 capital vote had not been released.
Yet the ministry’s own payment records show that ₦9,290,422,432 was paid out during 2025, including the ₦8.94 billion transaction for the office complex.
The payment records, however, do not establish which funding source financed the acquisition or how the transaction was accommodated within the ministry’s reported funding arrangements.
This leaves an important financial question unanswered: If the ministry’s minister told lawmakers that its 2025 capital allocation had not been released, what specific funding source was used to finance the ₦8.94 billion property transaction?
### QUESTIONS THE MINISTRY MUST ANSWER
The transaction raises several questions that the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development must address in the interest of transparency and accountability:
1. Where exactly is the multipurpose office complex acquired for ₦8.94 billion?
2. Who owned the property before the transaction, and who currently holds its title?
3. Was Osas and Oseji the actual property owner, a broker or a valuation consultant?
4. Why was an inactive company selected as the recipient of ₦8.94 billion in public funds?
5. Was an independent valuation conducted before the payment, and what was the property’s assessed market value?
6. Was the acquisition approved through the appropriate procurement and due process procedures?
7. What happened to President Tinubu’s earlier directive for the FCTA to renovate and hand over the former Agriculture Ministry headquarters to the Livestock Development Ministry?
8. Which budgetary provision or funding source financed the ₦8.94 billion payment, particularly in view of the minister’s subsequent disclosure that the ministry’s 2025 capital allocation had not been released?
### TRACKNEWS INVESTIGATION
The central issue is not merely that a newly established ministry spent ₦8.94 billion on an office complex.
It is that the ministry’s payment record does not provide the basic information necessary for the public to independently establish what was purchased, where the property is located, who owned it, how its value was determined and why the payment was made to an inactive estate surveying and valuation firm.
With ₦8.94 billion accounting for more than 90 per cent of the ministry’s recorded expenditure, the transaction deserves a detailed public explanation.
TrackNews Online will continue to examine the ministry’s procurement records, the identity of the beneficiary and the circumstances surrounding the acquisition.
**The Ministry of Livestock Development, Minister Idi Mukhtar Maiha and Permanent Secretary Dr Chinyere Ijeoma Akujobi must provide Nigerians with answers about the ₦8.94 billion transaction.**
*All allegations and questions raised in this investigation are based on the records and information reviewed by TrackNews. The ministry and the named individuals should be given an opportunity to respond, and any response will be published.*
Source: TrackNews