The minister of Blue economy, Gboyega Oyetola and the minister of transportation, Saidu Alkali, have been called before the House of Representatives for the purported illegal concession of some port facilities.
Leadership News reported that, the following people have also been called to testify: the director-general of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, Michael Ohiani, the managing director of the Nigeria Ports Authority, Mohammed Bello Koko, the Director General of the Burea of Public Enterprise, Mamman Ahmadu amongst others.
During a Tuesday meeting with the operators of seaport terminals in Abuja, the Chairman of the House Committee on Privatization and Commercialization, Ibrahim Hamisu (APC, Kaduna), issued the summons.
The legislator regretted that the senior government figures were not there to clarify their involvement in the concession of the ports terminals.
The members of the committee conveyed their discontent with the purportedly unscrupulous way in which the concession procedure was overseen, allowing five businesses to continue operations for five years without renewal and resulting in a significant loss of money for the federal government.
He declared, “On March 12, the ministers have to come before the committee. In order to ensure that this matter is resolved, we also want to reassure you that our committee will work tirelessly to achieve so, please provide the committee with all pertinent papers by Friday via the Secretariat.”
He informed the port stakeholders that “One of the main goals of this government is to encourage investments into our vital port infrastructure, which is why they were asked to the conference to discuss how best to address this prolonged renewal process.
“From the brief we received from the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies involved in the process as well as the affected parties. We are aware that as of right now, the negotiated supplemental agreements for the individual terminals still need to be executed in order to complete the process, which began more than five years ago.
“For this reason, we extended an invitation to all parties involved to collaborate in order to swiftly resolve this issue in the best interests of the country.”
At the conclusion of the meeting, Hamisu made an argument to reporters, saying that it was necessary to find out why the listed firms continued to operate without a concession agreement renewal.
“Five of the seaport terminals that were awarded on concession have since expired. There are individuals from Lagos and Port Harcourt. They were attempting to ensure that in 2021 their permissions would be renewed.
“They were not given this renewal for whatever reason, but they have continued to operate ever since. Therefore, we decided it was appropriate to double verify and identify the issue.
“We made the decision to invite them along with all the relevant parties, including the Ministry of Transportation, the ICRC, the BPP, and the Ministry of Blue Economy. Sadly, only the operators of the maritime terminal are there despite their invitation. After our conversation, they have one week to schedule the appearance of the MD NPA, BPP, ICRC, and Minister of Blue Economy before this committee.
“They are scheduled to appear by 10 AM on March 12 so that we may talk with them, identify the issue, and take appropriate measures to address it and find a long-term solution.
“Port and Cargo Terminal, ENL Consortium Terminal C, ENL Consortium Terminal D, Josepdam Terminal, and AMS Terminal are the names of the seaport facilities that are impacted. He issued a warning, saying, We want to look into and see what the issue is at the five terminals whose concession period has expired and they have been operating illegally since 2021. Whoever is in charge of this, we will deal with him.” he further stated.
The chairman had already ruled that the Ministers of Blue Economy and Transportation, among others, must unquestionably come before it on Tuesday of next week.
