Reps halt all concession processes in agencies pending probe

By Christiana Ekpa

The House of Representatives has asked all federal government agencies to suspend all concession processes they are involved in until its ongoing investigation is concluded.
The Joint House Committee on Public Assets and Special Duties gave this directives during its inaugural investigative hearing at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja on Thursday.
This was as the agencies that appeared for the hearing including, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) and
Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) did not tender the full documents requested by the panel.
Consequently, a members of Committee, Hon. Saidu Abdullahi (APC, Niger) moved a motion, saying: “If we all agree that the concession process should be suspended pending the investigation or they should go ahead.
“We should put it to them. Let them know that it is a resolution by this committee that all other pending concession processes be suspended until after this committee has concluded its work.”
Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Kabir Tukura Ibrahim who put the motion who voting and it was unanimously voted for, said: “So, anything regarding this concession should be suspended pending the outcome of everything that we are doing here. This goes to all the agencies here present.
“I have seen a submission of NAPTIP is very skeletal, is not informative, it doesn’t carry what we required for us to work with. Please do a detailed report, let it encapsulate all of the necessary areas of the concession that you are going into.
“This should not be accepted it’s an insult to this committee to bring this submission before the House of Representatives. Please lets do better.”
While declaring the investigative hearing open, Speaker Abbas Tajuden said the exercise marked a crucial milestone in the House’s dedication to appraise the efficacy of Public Private Partnership (PPP) Programmes and Concession Agreements from 1999 till the present day.