The Chairman of the House of Representatives has threatened some government agencies and stakeholders in the maritime sector of punitive measures should they continue to evade investigative summons.
The agencies include the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), NLNG, INTELS and Julius Berger Plc.
The Chairman of the House ad hoc committee to investigate and appraise the performance and benefits accruing to the Federal Government from all concessionaire operated ports (Air and Sea) terminals and related inbound and outbound shipping activities from 2006 to 2025, Hon. Akinlayo Davidson issued the warning at a briefing in Abuja on Friday.
He lamented that “Many of the important agencies have on several occasions deliberately refused to honour the invitation of the Committee for no just cause.
“In fact, some of the agencies that have so far appeared before the Committee could not submit the required documents. For example, the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) had appeared before us but disappointedly failed to comply fully with our requests.
“In the light of the foregoing, we wish to give the last warning to the chief executive officers and heads of the following agencies to change their attitude towards the committee or have themselves to blame.
“They include the Nigerian Ports Authority, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), NLNG, INTELS and Julius Berger Plc.
“Henceforth, this Committee will no longer tolerate contempt of the parliament and we have resolved to invoke the statutory constitutional provisions to compel any erring CEO/head to appear before it”, he stated.
The Chairman stressed that “I wish to state without mincing words that this Committee will not hesitate to subpoena any disrespectful and uncooperative CEO/head of MDAs; we will not develop cold feet in directing the Inspector General of Police to arrest any CEO or head of MDAs that fails to honour our invitation.
“Anyone who is out to sabotage our work will no longer be given the oxygen to undermine the legislature. We shall invoke the necessary constitutional provisions to compel compliance with the directives of the committee”.
He explained that the committee was not witch-hunting anybody or organisation but the mandate given to it by the House must be accomplished and “In doing so, we will not spare any CEO or officer or individual or group that have resolved to treat the parliament with contempt”.
According to him, since the committee commenced work, its members have approached the assignment with the highest sense of duty, responsibility, professionalism, and commitment to the national interest.
“We have been transparent and very democratic in the exercise of our powers and have restrained ourselves from high handedness.
“Unfortunately, more than one month into this onerous assignment, we have been faced with the daunting challenge of compelling relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the federal government to appear and provide the necessary and required information to enable the committee completes its work within the stipulated time. Although some stakeholders have been very cooperative”.
Hon. Kolawole warned that “We shall not entertain any frivolous excuses because this assignment must be timeously executed”.
