Expired seaports concessions, Reps summon Oyetola, others

By Temitope Adebayo

The House of Representatives Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation has summoned the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, the Minister of Transport, Sa’idu Alkali, the Managing Director (MD), Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Mohammed Bello-Koko, and the Director General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Alex Okoh, over the expiration of five seaport infrastructure concession agreements.

It also invites the Director General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Michael Ohiani.

Chairman of the committee, Ibrahim Hamisu Chidari, gave the directive during the investigative hearing held on Tuesday.

Speaking, he said members of the committee were not satisfied with the way the concession process was handled which also allowed the five companies to operate for five years without renewal of the agreement which led to a huge loss of revenue to the federal government.

He noted that there was a need to find out the reason why the companies were still operating without renewing the concession agreement.

He said the invited officials and heads of agencies must appear before the committee on March 12th, 2024.