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…say missing documents stalling investigation

By Gloria Ikibah

The Chairman of the House of Representatives AdHoc Committee investigating Concessioned Ports And Terminals, Rep. Kolawole Davidson Akinlayo, has issued a stern warning to several federal agencies and companies accused of failing to cooperate with the ongoing probe into concession agreements covering Nigeria’s air and sea terminals.

Addressing journalists in Abuja on Friday, Rep. Akinlayo said the committee, was inaugurated on 3 February 2026 by the Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas, and mandated to examine the performance and benefits accruing to the Federal Government from concession arrangements between 2006 and 2025.

He explained that the committee was tasked with reviewing the terms and conditions of concession agreements, assessing revenue flows and remittances to government agencies, evaluating compliance with regulatory and safety obligations, and examining the impact of the concessions on infrastructure development, operational efficiency and labour conditions.

“These assets—our seaports, airports, terminals and jetties—are not ordinary commercial facilities.

“They are sovereign economic gateways, national security infrastructure, and critical enablers of trade, mobility and development,” Akinlayo said.

The lawmaker, however, expressed frustration over what he described as the reluctance of some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to appear before the committee or submit requested documents.

Akinlayo also noted that while some stakeholders had cooperated, others had repeatedly ignored invitations from the committee or failed to provide complete documentation.

“More than one month into this onerous assignment, we have been faced with the daunting challenge of compelling relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government to appear and provide the necessary and required information to enable the Committee completes its work within the stipulated time.

“For example, the Nigerian Customs Service had appeared before us but disappointedly failed to comply fully with our requests,” he added.

He further warned that several agencies and organisations must immediately change their approach to the investigation or face constitutional sanctions.

Those mentioned include the Nigerian Ports Authority, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Nigeria Customs Service, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Nigeria LNG Limited, Intels Nigeria Limited and Julius Berger Nigeria Plc.

He emphasised that the committee will invoke its constitutional powers if the agencies continued to disregard parliamentary invitations.

“In the light of the foregoing, we wish to give the last warning to the chief executive officers and heads of the following agencies to change their attitude towards the committee or have themselves to blame.

“I wish to state without mincing words that this Committee will not hesitate to subpoena any disrespectful and uncooperative CEO or head of MDAs.

“We will not develop cold feet in directing the Inspector General of Police to arrest any CEO or head of MDAs that fails to honour our invitation,” he said.

According to committee chairman, the legislature is empowered under Sections 89 and 129 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) to issue summons, warrants and sanctions in the course of exercising its oversight functions.

Rep. Akinlayo insisted the investigation was not intended to target any organisation but to ensure accountability in the management of critical national assets.

According to him, the probe will help determine whether the concession arrangements had delivered value to the country.

“We are not witch-hunting anybody or organisation but the mandate given to us by the House must be accomplished and in doing so, we will not spare any CEO or officer or individual or group that have resolved to treat the parliament with contempt.

“Nigerians deserve to know whether these concessions have delivered value for money, complied with contractual obligations, enhanced national competitiveness, protected public assets, and contributed meaningfully to economic growth, employment and revenue generation,” he said.

The committee therefore appealed to the affected agencies and organisations to respond promptly to the committee’s invitations, stressing that the investigation must be concluded within the stipulated timeframe.

Responding to questions from journalists if a preliminary investigation was carried out, Rep. Akinlayo said the committee had so far only conducted preliminary engagements with agencies and stakeholders within the port concession ecosystem.

He explained that most concessionaires have submitted documents requested by the committee, but the materials were incomplete.

According to him, the committee cannot begin substantive work on the probe because key government agencies have yet to produce documents covering nearly two decades of concession arrangements.

“What we’ve done thus far was after our inauguration, we’ve had an interactive session with all the agencies and all the stakeholders in that ecosystem.

“What we’ve realised was all the post-concessionaire have submitted all documents that are requested from them.

“Although a majority of them also made our submission because we requested documents from 2006 to 2025,” he explained.

However, he noted that many of the submissions only covered a much shorter period.

“But we realised that a majority of them submitted documents from 2020 to 2025, claiming they don’t have those other documents that they’ve crashed or whatever.

“But we insisted that those documents must be submitted to us before we can commence our work.

“The interaction we had with them was when we invited the agency to come, they came. The NPA was represented by a GM of the agency and some other organisations”, he stated.

Akinlayo explained that the committee had made its mandate clear during those meetings.

“So, we spoke to them and we told them this is our mandate. Our mandate is to examine and project the agreement signed between the federal government and the concessionaire,” he said.

The key question, he added, is whether the agreements have benefited the country.

“How is that agreement? How is it profitable to Nigerian people? Is there any loss of revenue? So, that’s our major concern,” he said.

He stressed that the committee particularly requires records from the Nigerian Ports Authority, which he described as the principal custodian of the country’s port infrastructure.

“But what we’ve realised thus far is the NPA is the major custodian of ports. The port is under the purview of NPA.

“So, we want MPA to furnish with all the documents from 2006 to 2025. Without that, we can’t carry out our purpose,” Akinlayo said.

He added that the committee intends to broaden its investigation to include airport terminals once the port review has commenced.

“What about the airport? We are here to even commence work at the airport. So, our major work for now is to commence work on the terminals, port terminals,” Akinlayo said.

Responding to concerns that current agency heads may not have access to documents relating to agreements signed before they assumed office, Akinlayo dismissed the argument.

“Government is not built around an individual. Government is confidence. So, when you hold an office, a trust for the people, you know someday you will leave that office,” he said.

He said public officials must understand that their actions while in office could be scrutinised long after their tenure ends.

“And whatever actions or duty you carry out while in that office will be examined one day,” he said.

Akinlayo maintained that claims by current officials that they were not in office when earlier decisions were taken would not excuse them from cooperating with the investigation.

“For them to say that because they are not in the office where the act was perpetrated, that is not acceptable to us at this point,” he said.

He insisted that the agencies must locate the required records through official channels.

He also pointed out that government institutions maintain archival systems where such records should be stored.

“Because everything that happens, if you can provide, you should be able to give us somebody that can give us those documents,” he said.