The House of Representatives on Thursday summoned the Minister of
Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, over the “modified concession”
of the Nigerian Iron Ore Mining Company, Itakpe, to Global Steel Holdings
Limited.
The House also demanded urgent update on the state of Ajaokuta
Steel Company and other steel sector firms, which had been surrounded by
controversies over time.
The House’ Sub-Committee on Steel resolved to summon the minister
after the Bureau of Public Enterprises told lawmakers that the modified
concession was done without the participation of the agency.
The National Council on Privatisation oversees the Federal
Government’s Programme on Privatisation, but the BPE is the technical agency of
the NCP, which does the execution.
The government had, a fortnight ago, entered into a re-negotiated
concession agreement with Global Steel Holdings Limited on NIOMCO.
The House had ordered an investigation into the transaction after
receiving a series of petitions from stakeholders in the steel sector,
including workers.
However, Fayemi and other top officials were absent as the House
committee opened a public hearing at the National Assembly, Abuja, on the
matter.
The committee stated that Fayemi, being the minister, should
appear before members on Thursday next week to disclose the details of the
agreement he signed with GSHL.
The BPE’s position was presented to the committee by Alhaji Dikko
Abdullahi.
Abdullahi represented the acting Director-General of the BPE, Dr.
Vincent Akpotaire.
Abdullahi said, “The concession of NIOMCO was done by the ministry
and not by BPE; so BPE doesn’t have the details…
“We are being supervised by the NCP. So, essentially, there has to
be directives and instructions from the NCP.”
There were protests by various stakeholders.
For instance, the Executive Secretary-General of the African Iron
and Steel Association, Dr. Sanusi Muhammed, informed lawmakers that
stakeholders were not involved in the modified concession negotiations.
He explained, “The privatisation of NIOMCO is null and void since
BPE, the technical partner of NCP, which is in charge of privatisation, did not
participate…
“And the minister said it is a modified agreement but nobody is
allowed to see it. No stakeholder was invited. So, we are interested in knowing
what the agreement looks like.”
Similarly, the co-Chairman, Iron and Steel Development Committee,
Nigerian Society of Engineers, Prof. David Esezobor, told the committee
that the concession was done despite telling the minister not to go ahead with
it because there were unresolved issues.
“When we held a meeting, we agreed that NIOMCO should not enter
into concessioned with GSHL,” he claimed.
The lawmakers expressed disbelief that NIOMCO found its way back
into the hands of the Indian firm despite the failure of previous governments
to conclude the concession due to mounting controversies.
The Chairman of the committee, Mr. Gabriel Kolawole, said there
were piles of documents on why the concession plan had failed in the past.
He added, “It means that we are still doing things the old way.
Now, NIOMCO is back into the hands of Global Holdings, which had failed us in
the past. And it is NIOMCO that supplies Ajaokuta Steel with raw materials.”
Source: Punch
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