The
House of Representatives Committee on Marine Safety, on Tuesday,
grilled the Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and
Safety Agency, Dakuku Peterside.
Dakuku Peterside & Rotimi Amaechi
The Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and
Safety Agency (NIMASA) Dakuku Peterside, has on Tuesday, grilled by the
federal House of Representatives Committee on Marine Safety over a
controversial contract to recover NIMASA’s alleged $5bn debt.
According to The Punch,
the House committee, which is chaired by Umar Bago, is in possession of
petitions, alleging the breach of due process and fraud in the award of
the contract to a firm, SNECO Financial Services, which was
incorporated on April 4, 2016.
One of the petitions clearly stated that under the terms of the
contract, SNECO would take 13% of the recovered debts, a figure the
committee queried for being “huge” as they observed that this would be
about $65million profit for the firm.
Hon. Bago said, “We have the petitions here. The petitioners
consider this a waste of public funds. Why will NIMASA engage another
firm to perform its functions? Why do we have staff in NIMASA? What is
their work?.”
Dan Asuquo, who is the Chairman, House Committee on Power, and a
member of the committee, directed Peterside to produce the audited
account of the firm.
“What is the pedigree of SNECO? Where is their audited account? We want to know their owners,” he added.
Speaking during the session, Dakuku Peterside, a former member of
the House, told the Reps members that NIMASA complied with all due
process requirements in awarding the contract, adding that the Bureau of
Public Procurement awarded a certificate of no objection on the
contract.
However, Peterside, denied that he ever mentioned that NIMASA’s
debt was $5bn or $10bn as had been quoted by some persons. According to
him, the agency’s debts from 2004 to 2016 was $420.55m, and wondered how
the petitioners arrived at the $5bn that was quoted.
“I never said that NIMASA was owed $5bn. The entire volume of
shipping trade in Nigeria in the last four years is nothing close to
$10bn. We complied with every provision of the Public Procurement Act,” he said.
Not satisfied with his explanations, the furious lawmakers insisted
on holding a full investigative hearing on the controversial contract.
“DG, there will be an investigative hearing. So, you can speak
on those questions that you have answers to give now. On those questions
that you are not ready to answer, please prepare fully and come during
the investigative hearing,” he said.
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