Abuja, July 6, 2023: The House of Representatives has resolved to probe illegal auctioning of the Federal Government property by Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
Others include the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) River Basin Development Authority (RBDA) and Nigeria Customs Service (NCS)
This is sequel to the adoption of a motion by Rep. Oluwole Oke (PDP-Osun) during plenary on Thursday in Abuja.
In his motion, he said the procedures for the disposal and auctioning of government assets in Nigeria were well spelt out in Financial Regulations, 2009 and Public Procurement Act 2007 among others.
Aware that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) makes adequate provisions that all revenues realized from the disposal/auctioning of public property must be remitted into the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
He said NPA, NIMASA, NRC, NCS and others RBDA had been auctioning public property not only at a ridiculous price but also without following due
process.
He noted that partial remittance or non-remittance of revenue realised from the auctioning of public property into consolidated revenue fund was a breach of the constitution.
He expressed concerned that if the practice continued, coupled with dwindling crude oil revenue in Nigeria, the government might not be able to cope with the rising demands for accelerated infrastructural developments in Nigeria.
Following his submission, the House therefore resolved to set up an ad hoc committee to investigate the disposal of public property by the agencies.
This according to the House would be between 2010 and 2022 to unravel the extent of illegal auctioning of public property, non-remittance of revenue realised into consolidated revenue fund.
The committee is to and report back to the House within four weeks
for further legislative action.
