The House of Representatives has revealed that the Federal Government has lost a whooping $5.7bn to concessioning of public infrastructures to private companies in a bid to bridge the gap in infrrastructural development of the country.
Chairman of the House Ad-hoc Committee to investigate the Leases of Government Assets Hon.Dan Asuquo made the revelation at the commencement of the investigation of the leases and sales of government assets at the National Assembly in Abuja on Tuesday
The lawmaker said that the Committee is worried that so far there’s no oversight of leases and asset sales on sale of most government properties to private companies.
He noted that in the maritime sector, there are 27 ports concessioned to private companies in which the Federal Government lost $5.7 to private entities on leases and concessioning of public infrastructures.
He advised that the government should discontinue this model and opt for public private patnership in realization of the fact that the objectives may not be realized if they continue to operate these models.
The investigation by the committee he said is to ascertain if due process was followed in the plans to concession about four international airports in the country and other public infrastructures.
He also said that it is to find out if the concessionier has both the technical and financial ability to do the job it was concessioned to do at these airports.
It would be recalled that the Federal Government recently through the Minister of Aviation Sen.Hadi Sirika had announed plans to concession four international airports in Nigeria.
The.airports are Murtala Mohammed International Airport Lagos, Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja and the Port Harcourt International Airport Omagwa
Consequently, the House on December 21, 2020 adopted a motion and mandated the Ad-hoc Committee to investigate the matter and all the leases and agreements entered into by the federal government.
