Reps question ministers on Tuesday on port concessions.
The Blue Economy Minister Gboyega Oyetola and his Transportation counterpart Saidu Alkali have been called before the House of Representatives on the purported illegal concession of some port facilities.
The Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprise, Mamman Ahmadu, the Managing Director of the Nigeria Ports Authority, Mohammed Bello Koko, and the Director-General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, Michael Ohiani, are among those who have been invited to testify.
The summons was delivered on Tuesday in Abuja during a meeting with the operators of seaport terminals by Ibrahim Hamisu (APC, Kaduna), the chairman of the House Committee on Privatization and Commercialization.
The legislator bemoaned the lack of presence from the highest ranking government officials to clarify their involvement in the maritime terminal concession.
The committee members voiced their discontent with the purportedly dubious way in which the concession procedure was overseen, allowing five companies to continue operations for five years without renewal and causing the Federal Government to lose a significant amount of money.
"They (ministers) have to come before the committee on March 12," he declared. Additionally, we want to reassure you that this committee will work tirelessly to see that this matter is resolved. To that end, please provide the committee with all pertinent documentation via the Secretariat by Friday.
He informed the port stakeholders that one of the main goals of this administration 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," he stated. 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.
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