Senate Instruct Five Committees To Probe Amaechi

Source: thewillnigeria.com

BEVERLY HILLS, November 08, (THEWILL) – The Nigerian Senate is set to probe Rotimi Amaechi, the Minister of Transport, over the procedure leading to concession of Port Harcourt-Maiduguri and Lagos-Kano rail lines to General Electric (GE).

Amaechi was accused of not following due process in concessioning the key infrastructure to GE while process was alleged to have not been open to competitive bidding and necessary legal procedures were allegedly bypassed.

In a motion on Tuesday , Bassey Akpan, a senator from Akwa Ibom north-east, alleged that Amaechi breached the Public Enterprises Privatisation & Commercialisation Act 1999 by unilaterally engaging GE without recourse to the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE).

Akpan, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Gas, said upon approval of the of the project by the National Privatization Council in April 2015, in the latter days of former President Goodluck Jonathan's tenure, the Bureau of Public Enterprises and the Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility had developed a roadmap.

He revealed that the BPE had engaged the Global Infrastructure Facility and the World Bank in discussions on how to access funds to manage the project before Amaechi announced a unilateral deal with GE.

Following the motion, the Senate directed five of its standing committees to commence investigation into the allegations.

The committees are privatisation, land transport, anti-corruption and financial crimes, special duties, trade and investment and judiciary.

THEWILL recalls that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) recently urged President Muhhamadu Buhari to immediately suspend Amaechi after he was accused by two Supreme Court judges of trying to manipulate judgements in favour of Nigeria's ruling All Progressives Congress. 

Story by Oputah David