Reps Summon Minister, NPA Boss, and Others Over Alleged Fraudulent Seaport Concession

The House of Representatives on Tuesday summoned the Minister of Blue Economy, Gboyega Ayitola, and the Minister of Transport, Saidu Alkali, over the alleged fraudulent concession of critical port infrastructure.

The move comes after concerns were raised about the lack of renewal of concession agreements for five major seaport terminals.

The other agencies also invited to the meeting include the Managing Director (MD) of Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Mohammed Bello Koko, and the Director General (CG) of the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE), as well as the Director General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Micheal Ohiani.

During the meeting with the seaport terminal operators, the Chairman of the House Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation, Rep. Ibrahim Hamisu (APC, Kaduna), expressed dissatisfaction with the absence of key heads of sectors such as the Ministers of Transport and Blue Economy and the MD of Nigeria Ports Authority.

The Committee also frowned upon the seemingly shady handling of the concession process, which has led to five companies operating for five years without renewal, resulting in significant revenue loss for the federal government.

Rep. Hamisu stated, “We invited you to this meeting today 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.”

The Committee was informed that the outstanding issue is the execution of the negotiated Supplementary Agreements for the respective Terminals, and the need to quickly address the concern in the mutual and national interest.

Briefing journalists on the matter, Rep. Hamisu further explained that there was a need to find out why the companies listed were still operating without renewal of the concession.

“Some seaport terminals were given out on concession and five of them have expired. Some are from Lagos and some are from Port Harcourt.

They were trying to see that their approvals were renewed in 2021. Somewhere, somewhere this renewal was not granted to them, but they have been operating since then,” he said.

To address the issue, the Committee has given a one-week period for the Minister of Blue Economy, MD NPA, BPP, and ICRC to appear before it on March 12th at 10 am to discuss the problem and find a lasting solution.

The affected seaport terminals are Port and Cargo Terminal, ENL Consortium Terminal C, ENL Consortium Terminal D, Josepdam Terminal, and AMS Terminal.

These five terminals have had their concession periods expired and have been operating illegally from 2021 to date.

The Committee is determined to investigate and find out what the problem is and hold the responsible party accountable.

The Chairman of the Committee has made it clear that the Ministers of Blue Economy and Transport, and others, must appear before it next week Tuesday unfailingly.

The House of Representatives is taking decisive action to investigate the alleged fraudulent concession of critical port infrastructure and ensure that the renewal process for the affected seaport terminals is resolved in a timely and transparent manner.