The House of Representatives has mandated its committee on marine transport to investigate the almost four year old port concessioning, a development which will require all actors in the famed exercise to file out and ask some questions.
Sources confirmed to our correspondent last week that the House at plenary in December had received the report of its committee on finance which looked into allegations bordering on leakages in revenue accruable to government. It consequently passed a resolution directing the committee on marine transport to look into the port concession books with specific focus on the relationship between NPA and its concessionaires.
The finance committee had submitted that it was imperative to investigate all revenue that were accruable to government on account of port concessioning on the strength of the allegations that the incomes were split into different accounts; namely : Nigerian Ports Authourity and the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE).
Sources close to the lower chamber disclosed that the probe may commence any moment from now since a formal directive has already been conveyed to the committee.
Specifically, the committee is expected to look into allegations that proceeds from the exercise went into wrong coffers; there were allegations that BPE took charge of some revenue while NPA took some.
“The committee is interested in knowing how much was generated and are still being generated from revenue such as: rent, concession fees and throughput fees”, a member of the committee told Shipping Position Weekly last Friday. “We will like to know if the payments are in tandem with what there is in the concession agreement, there are allegations that some of them are not paid correctly.”
Stressing that it is not a probe as such, but an a mandatory exercise which has be given to us in plenary and which is also informed by the report of another committee of the House, the source hinted that members were surprised to hear that BPE is in custody of some proceeds of concessioning, “such monies should be given to NPA for its pension fund”, he declared.
The first set of ports was concessioned in April 2006, and since then terminal operations in all the ports have been handed over to private operators.
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