House Committee Summon Ministers Of Agriculture, Blue Economy Over Fraud Claims In Concessions

The House of Representatives has called on Minister of Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola and Minister of Transportation, Saidu Alkali to address allegations of fraudulent port infrastructure concessions.

The list of individuals invited for questioning also includes, Managing Director of the Nigeria Ports Authority, Mohammed Koko; Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprise, Mamman Ahmadu; and Director General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, Micheal Ohiani.

Naija News reports that the APC’s representative for Kaduna and chairman of the House Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation, Ibrahim Hamisu convened a meeting in Abuja on Tuesday with seaport terminal operators where he issued the summons.

The lawmaker bemoaned the top government officials’ absence, who were needed to clarify their involvement in the concession of the seaport terminals, while the committee members denounced the concessioning process’s lack of clarity that enabled five companies to operate beyond their contract terms for five years, thus depriving the Federal Government of significant revenue.

Hamisu said, “They (ministers) must appear before the committee on March 12. We also want to assure that this committee would work very hard to make sure that this issue is over and to do that, you are to furnish the Committee with all the relevant documents through the secretariat by Friday.”

He told the port stakeholders that they were invited to the meeting to “discuss how best to address this prolonged renewal process because of the need to attract investments into our critical port infrastructure which is one of the major focuses of this administration.”

“From the brief we received from affected parties and the Ministries, Departments and Agencies involved in the process. We understand that as of today, what is outstanding in concluding the process that started over five years ago is the execution of the negotiated supplementary agreements for the respective terminals.

“That is why we invited all stakeholders to see how we can work together to quickly address this concern in national interest,” Hamisu said.

In a press briefing following the meeting, Hamisu emphasized the importance of investigating the reasons behind the continued operation of certain companies without a renewed concession agreement.

Hamisu warned that responsible parties would face consequences, emphasizing that key ministers and stakeholders must attend the next session to resolve the situation.