Nigeria’s House of Representatives has begun the investigation into the sales and disposal of public property by some government agencies between 2010 and 2022.
The investigation is being carried out by the House Ad Hoc Committee To Investigate the Disposal of Public Property, in Abuja.
During the inauguration of the Ad Hoc Committee tasked with investigating the disposal of public property, Professor Julius Thonbvere, who serves as both Leader of the House and Chairman of the committee, emphasized that conducting investigations is a critical function of legislative duties.
He said that the investigation of the disposal of public property by some government agencies between 2010 and 2022 was to unravel the extent of illegal auctioning of public property and non-remittance of revenue realized into the Consolidated Revenue of the Federation.
”As you may be aware, owing to the importance the House ascribes to this exercise, today, I am wearing two caps in the discharge of this assignment. Firstly, J have the authority of Mr. Speaker, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abass, PhD, to officially declare the public investigative hearing open. Secondly, as the House Leader and the Chairman of the Ad-Hoc Committee, I wish to state on behalf of the entire members of the Committee that we are duty-bound and committed to discharge the assignment according to the ethos and rules of the House of Representatives. On Thursday 6″ July 2023, the House of Representatives considered a motion on the Need to Investigate the Illegal Auctioning of Property of the Federal Republic of by Nigeria Ports Authority, Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Nigeria Railway Corporation, River Basin Development Authority, Railway Corporation and Nigeria Customs since (HB. 36/07/2023).
“After exhaustive debate and consideration, the House set up an AdHoc Committee to investigate the matter and revert with recommendations. This task, to me and the entire members of this Ad-hoc Committee, is a very onerous one as the recommendations of the Committee will be deep, thorough and comprehensive; hence we cut short our annual recess to holistically address the matter,” Prof Thonbvere said.
He said that in executing the exercise the Committee will rely on the relevant sections of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, (as amended), the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives and the inherent jurisdiction of the National Assembly.
“In the course of this work, we have written letters to all the agencies concerned requesting information on the subject matter, and many of you did not bother to respond to our letter. We hope to physically visit the Agencies, examine your books and conduct a physical inspection of all public properties acquired to determine the ones sold and procedures adopted for the exercise.
“As the representatives of the Nigerian people we will deploy all constitutional means to ensure that we achieve the mandate of the House. I will drive this process in cooperation with my colleagues to the satisfaction and the expectations of the people. In the course of this assignment, we Will look at extant laws including the code of ethics governing the operation of the public service,” he said.
He noted that he has implicit trust in the members of the Committee that they will do justice to the legislative assignment.
He however advised the Chief Executives of agencies invited to the hearing to give the Committee the necessary cooperation to enable them to achieve their goals.
The Managing Directors of the Upper Benue River Basin Development Authority, Cross River Basin Development Authority, Lower Niger River Basin Development Authority, Benin Owena River Basin Development Authority, Hadejia Jam’amare River Basin Authority appeared before the Ad-hoc committee.
While responding to questions from the chairman and members of the committee, the Managing Director of Cross River Basin Development Authority, Engr Bassey Nkposong, said that the agency has nothing to auction as most of their equipment was vandalized during the End Sars Protest of 2021.
Other Managing Directors said that Auctioning of their properties were carried out by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources.
In his ruling, the Chairman of the committee, Prof. Julius Thonbvere, told the MDs to return to the ministry to get the remaining documents and make them available.
He said that those agencies that were invited and did not appear are bridging the law.
“Those who refuse to completely or blatantly disregard our invitation, we know precisely what to do as a House. There is a tendency in this country for big agencies to believe that they can operate above the law. But not with this tenth assembly,” he said.
He directed to Ministry of Water Resources to appear before the committee tomorrow Tuesday, September 5th at 10:00 am.
