Former Nigerian presidents; Goodluck Jonathan and Olusegun
Obasanjo, as well as former ministers of the federal capital territory,
El Rufai and Bala Mohammed are all set to be probed by the Nigerian
Senate.
The Senate said yesterday that it will soon begin a holistic
investigation into all the issues relating to the Concession and
privatization of some government property in the Federal Capital
Territory to the tune of N2.7 billion, just as it described the entire
process as a national disaster and leadership failure.
According to the Senate, it was disheartening that in spite of the
barrage of investments in the territory, with the private owners of
these government establishments making huge amount of money, the revenue
portion on these investments stood at zero over the years since 2008 to
the coffers of the federal government.
Against this backdrop, the Senate said that it would summon all the
key players in the past governments that were responsible for the
concession and privatization of these property to private individuals in
the nation’s capital city.
Speaking yesterday during a meeting with the Minister of the Federal
Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello and
the entire leadership of the FCTA appeared before the Senate Committee
on the FCT, Chairman of the Committee, Senator Dino Melaye, APC, Kogi
West who vowed that the Senate would get to the root of the matter by
bringing to book all the major players in the concession and
privatization process of these property.
Melaye who described the process as real leadership failure and a
national disaster, however warned that the country cannot allow this to
continue if Nigeria as a country must grow, adding that the Committee
would expose all those involved, even when it amounts to exhuming
corpses if those involved are dead, adding that people pay to use Eagle
Square, facilities at the International Conference Centre, ICC and other
government investments, yet at the end of the day, there is zero
remittance to the government.
He said, ”It is worthy of note that these FCT owned companies
received huge returns on investment without making returns to FCT
Administration.
The returns are in billions of Naira. They are spent and re-invested
without appropriation. This is contrary to the principles of
accountability and due process. The Committee is also worried about the
revenue line charge on investment income. The actual performance on This
charge has zero returns over The years.”
Incidentally, the concession and privatization of these government
property was carried out during former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and
Goodluck Jonathan,just as the Ministers were Mallam Nasir El- Rufai who
is now the governor of Kaduna State; Dr. Aliyu Modibbo Umar; Senator
Bala Mohammed, among others.
Meanwhile, the FCTA Minister, Muhammad Musa Bello told the Committee
that the Concession was not carried out now, just as he said that
unfortunately, all those that took the decision were not in the hall and
the present government, adding that the Senate must be commended for
trying to right the wrongs that were made in the past.
According to him, he had put in place a seven-man interim management
team headed by Dr. Bashir Isyaku was put in place to oversee the affairs
of the AICL, just as he pleaded with the Senate to give the Committee
time to complete its assignment and he would then present the report to
the Senate Committee.
Senator Melaye said, ”Let me say that the abysmal performance of
These concessioned properties in The FCT is basically a direct
consequence of leadership failure. By the twilight of The past
administrations in Nigeria, a plethora of discontentment on The exercise
had reached fever pitches. We as members of This Committee will
continue to bridge The meaning of our resolve with realiTies Through our
oversight for effective implementation.
Senator Melaye further said, “permit me to comment on some of the
concessioned properties as follows:The Karu General Hospital was
initially a 222-bed facility built by the FCT Administration. It is
important to note that 40% of the Hospital is leased to Primus Super
Specialty Hospital (an Indian HoSpital) for management. The hospital
commenced operation on 19th April, 2017.
THIS DAY DOME. Abuja Investment Company
Limited (AICL) was allocated Plot 702 Cadastral Zone A00, CBD, Abuja and
thereafter entered into two years Lease Agreement with leaders and
company popularly called “This Day Dome Arena” in respect of the said
plot. The Lease Agreement was effective from May 1, 2009. The total rent
payable for the term was N97,090,284:02.
“
EAGLE SQUARE AND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE CENTRE (ICC), ABUJA.
The Committee observed that the Eagle Square and Abuja International
Conference Centre were concessioned to the same company who had no
evidence of previous facility management experience anywhere in the
world, and without financial capacity to manage the facilities. This
company had to fall back on FCTA to buy new equipment to kick-start its
operations. It is worthy of note that the management of the two
concessioned facilities makes millions of Naira on a monthly basis since
the commencement of its operations.
“
GARKI HOSPITAL. Garki Hospital was concessioned to
Nisa Premier Hospital in partnership with Nisa Premier Apeiron
Consortium. It is pertinent to state that Garki Hospital was built to
provide affordable healthcare for residents of Garki District. The aim
of providing the facility was defeated as the management of the hospital
now charges relativety very high fees on patients due to concession of
the hospital. The Committee frowns at this misdemeanor. As
representatives of the people, we hold it as a responsibility to care md
protect the people’s lives‘ worst harzard and misfortune specially in a
time like this.
“Time and time again, I wonder deep in my heart why must it be Garki
which hosts the lower and medium cadre officers in the civil service.
Why not Asokoro or Maitama Hospitals, which are surrounded by high
caliber of Nigerians from all walks of life.
“
SHERATON HOTEL & TOWERS. Sheraton Hotel and
Towers was incorporated on 16th January, 1981 as a private liability
company which later transformed into public liability company in 1990.
The hotel was constructed by Government with a loan of about $300
million (Three Hundred Million Dollars) borrowed from a German Bank. The
debt was eventually settled by Government because there was a sovereign
guarantee on it.
“The then Director-General of Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE), Mrs.
Irene Chigbue, stated clearly during the Investigative Public Hearing
of this Committee in 2008 that Government Agencies were invited to
subscribe to the ownership of the company in which Abuja Investment
Limited was part of the subscribers.
“It is important to note that 87% of the Federal Government shares of
the hotel, that is 51% was sold to core investors while other
shareholders’ shares remain unchanged.
“It is worrisome to state that Sheraton Hotel and Towers was privatized for $34 million (Thirty Four Million Dollars) only.
“The Committee was reliably informed that the 51% of the shares of
the hotel was valued and sold for $34 million. This means that the total
value of the hotel is less than $68 million.
“This figure is very ridiculous because the hotel was constructed at a
period when the Naira was stronger than the dollar ($300m). Despite the
hotel’s 20 years of operations (1982 2002), the Return on Investment
(ROI) was a negative quantity.Today, the facilities in the hotel is
depreciating by the day. The hotel is not well managed with many of the
rooms uninhabitable.
“
NICON LUXURY. The sale of Sofitel International
Hotel which is also known as NICON Luxury Hotel followed the same
pattern as the Sheraton Hotel and Towers.
The hotel was constructed in 1980. The Federal Government, through
the Ministry of Finance, owns 92.5% of the shares, FCDA owns 4.64%,
NICON Insurance owns 01%. The remaining shares were distributed
accordingly.
“Committee noted as follows in the course of its findings: That about
$130m was spent in building the hotel; That 90% of the shares were sold
for only $50m as against $130m it took the government to build the
hotel: and That 19 million Euro was used for the furnishing of the
hotel, bringing the total estimated cost of the asset to $200 million.
“
ABUJA INVESTMENT LIMITED (AIL) Abuja Investment
Limited is an investment company which houses all FCT owned companies
The companies include Abuja Market Management Limited (AMML) and Abuja
Investment Property Development Company (AIPDC).
“ABUJA GARDENS. The Committee has no sufficient information about The concession of Abuja Gardens
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