…as lawmakers frown at companies operating in Nigeria without license
By Gloria Ikibah
The House of Representatives has summoned the Minister of Blue Economy, Gboyega Ayitola and Minister of Transport, Saidu Alkali over alleged fraudulent concession of critical Ports infrastructure.
The House also invited the Managing Director (MD) of Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Mohammed Bello Koko and Director General (CG) of Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) and Director General Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) Micheal Ohiani among others.
These resolution was at a meeting organised by the House Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation, on seaport terminal operators in Nigeria with parties to the 5 expired concession on Tuesday in Abuja.
Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Ibrahim Hamisu, lamented the absence of heads of key sectors and the role they played in the concessions of the seaport terminals.
Members of the Committee expressed displeasure at the shady manner in which the concession process was handled which had let the five companies operating for five (5) years running without renewal therefore leading to huge loss of revenue to the federal government.
Rep. Hamis explained that Managing Director/CEO’s of the 5 expired leases/ concession were invited from the public hearing.
They are “ENL Consortium Ltd, AMS, – Ports & Cargo Handling Services Ltd and – Josephdam Port Services”.
He said: “We invited you to this meeting today to discuss how best to address this prolong renewal process because of the need to attract investments into our critical port infrastructure which is one of the major focus of this administration.
“From the brief we received from affected parties and MDA’s involved in the process, we understand that as of today what is outstanding in concluding the process that started over 5 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 the mutual and national interest”.
He pointed out that of the five agencies invited, only one made an appearance.
He also noted that the House would decide what to do to anyone that fails to honour the committee’s invitation.
Members of the committee while reacting to companies operating with expired concession, condemned the act and called for the prosecution of the culprits.
Some of the companies that appeared, insisted that they have been paying their concession fees even without Licenses.