House of Representatives summons Ministerof Marine and Blue Economy over illegal operation of five terminal operators

By Afolabi Oyekunle.

The House Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation has expressed concerns over the continued operations of five terminal operators at the Nigerian Ports despite the expiration of their concession agreement with the Federal government.

The committee accused Port and Cargo Terminal(SIFAX GROUP), ENL Consortium Terminal C, ENL Consortium Terminal D, Josepdam Terminal and AMS Terminal of operating illegally since 2021 when their concession agreement expired.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation, Ibrahim Hamisu (APC, Kaduna), at a meeting with the seaport terminal operators, frowned at the failure of the relevant authorities to ensure that the affected terminal operators renew their concession agreement, lampooning them for allowing the illegality at the expense of the Federal government.

The committee therefore summoned the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, Minister of Transportation, Saidu Alkali, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mohammed Bello-Koko, the Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) and the Director General Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Micheal Ohiani to appear with the explanations and necessary documents to defend their actions.

The committee frowned at the shady manner in which the renewal process has been handled since 2021.

They noted that the five companies have been operating for five (5) years without renewal, therefore leading to a huge loss of revenue for the federal government.

They expressed their concerns while addressing the terminal operators on Tuesday, March 5th, 2024 in the committee room.

“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.

“From the brief we received from affected parties and MDAs (Ministries, Departments, and Agencies) 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."

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