The House of Representatives Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation has begun an investigation into the process leading to the concessioning of five ports to a sole concessionaire, Intels by the Bureau for Public Enterprises.

The ports are Onne FLT B, Onne FOT A, Warri Old Terminal A, Warri New Terminal B and Calabar New Terminal A, which were reportedly concessioned in 2004 to Intels under an agreement that would last for 50 years.
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and the family of the late Maj-Gen. Shehu Musa Yar’Adua are believed to have substantial interest in the company.
Our correspondent gathered on Sunday that members of the committee would visit the affected ports and Lagos on Monday (today) as part of the investigation and to specifically find out whether due process was observed by the BPE and Intels.
Findings showed that the Nigerian Ports Authority and Intels allegedly signed a 20 per cent, 80 per cent profit and cost sharing joint venture which granted the latter the exclusive rights to operate NPA facilities for handling oil and gas cargo for an initial period of 21 years.
The parties also agreed that the agreement could be extended optionally for additional 15 years.
It was however, learnt that the legislators expressed concern that the agreement was not in the interest of the country, as the payments for Intels’s services were not made to its accounts in Nigeria.
Intels, by the agreement, also has monopoly over the delivery of oil and gas transportation and the right of first refusal on land to be offered for occupancy by NPA.
According to the Deputy Chairman of the committee, Mr. Abasi Braimah, who confirmed the probe to our correspondent in Abuja , the BPE had breached its rule, which says that no single bidder will be awarded more than one port at a time.
He said, “Something is certainly not right in the whole arrangement, especially when it has to do with the issue of a 50-year exclusivity agreement.
“It is doubtful whether such an agreement in favour of a single logistics company is good enough when the substance of our oil and gas industry would have been severely depleted, or perhaps exhausted within the period of the agreement.
“The handling of the agreement suggests several afterthoughts and indiscretion in the management of the exercise, particularly by NPA and BPE.”