The House of Representatives yesterday expressed worry over the delay in the conclusion of the review and renewal of agreements for the concession of the country’s seaports, as it directed its Committees on Ports Harbour, Privatisation and Commercialisation to interface with relevant government agencies and other parties to investigate the cause of the delay.

The House gave the committee four weeks to carry out the exercise and report back to it for further legislative action.

The resolution followed the adoption of a motion titled: ‘Need to Investigate the Delay in Conclusion of the Review and Renewal of Agreements for Concession of Seaports’, sponsored by Hon. Shehu Koko.

Moving the motion, Koko recalled that the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), on behalf of the federal government anchored the concession of seaport terminals between 2005 and 2006 for an initial period of 10 years, 15 years and 25 years across the NPA Port complexes of Apapa, Tincan Island, Port Harcourt, Onne, Calabar, Koko and Warri respectively.

He said some of the concessioned terminals with initial tenure of 10 and 15 years have expired, while some will expire in May 2021, and therefore, needed renewal to avoid losses of hundreds of millions of dollars revenues accruable to the government and direct foreign investment by investors.

The lawmaker said:

The review and renewal process had commenced in 2016 with the Nigerian Ports Authority.

(NPA), Federal Ministry of Justice, Federal Ministry of Transport, the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and Private Terminal Operators.

The concession agreements that have expired are deemed to have been automatically renewed without the benefit of full renegotiation, provided that concessionaires served the lessor requisite notice of intent to renew in line with the provisions of the agreement.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.