Is the Federal Ministry of Finance being unfairly accused of impeding a probe by the House of Representatives into its controversial concessioning of a key import and export clearing documentation services contract to Single Window Systems and Technology Limited? EDEGBE ODEMWINGIE revisits the allegedly stalled major fraud probe
In details and scope, the stalled investigation surpasses the inconclusive $16 billion power probe launched by the previous House of Representatives in 2007. Lawmakers say the concession deal, hatched under the watch of former Finance Minister and current Minister of Trade and Investment Olusegun Aganga, stands to rip-off the national treasury by over $30 billion.
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It would be recalled that a five-day public hearing, originally scheduled to begin last Monday, to receive presentations from relevant stakeholders and members of the public on the contentious concession contract flopped when the Ministry of Finance failed to provide needed documents on the alleged fraudulent outsourcing of clearing documentation services. This is despite two formal requests by the Lower House to the ministry to furnish it with the contract papers.
A permanent secretary in the ministry, Danladi Kifasi, who represented the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the failure to produce the contract papers was not deliberate. He blamed the omission on “communication gap”. Kifasi further blamed the bereavement of a distant relative for the failure to produce the contract papers, which lawmakers described as the hub of this proceeding
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“In my view I thought the emphasis would be on current state of issues because this one is a child that has just started walking but that is not an excuse for our inability to comply with the directives of the committee. I accept that we have erred. I assure you that we have all the documents, they are in our files. It is an oversight and I want to crave the indulgence of this committee to give us a little time to produce all the documents”.
Many say the excuses put forward are suspect and a time buying ploy. According to the House leader and chairman, ad hoc committee on the concession agreement, Hon. Leo Okuweh Ogor, the inability of Ministry of Finance to produce the documents would not allow further proceeding as a result of the importance of the documents. “The documents we are requesting for are the basis on which this proceeding would function, the ministry is the hub of this proceeding and since the documents are not available, there is nothing we can do,” he said.
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Earlier, he said at the public hearing that: “The public hearing is of concern to the House of Representatives for some reasons. Firstly, it is an established fact that, apart from oil revenues, the second most important revenue earner for our great nation is the Nigeria Customs Service. Therefore, any programme of government that will enhance revenue earnings of the nation must be encouraged but should be executed in line with due process and relevant National Assembly enactments.”
According to him, “The likelihood of unauthorised withdrawals from public accounts in clear violation of Section 80, Sub-section 4 and Section 81 of the 1999 Constitution as amended will not be acceptable.”
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A monitored report stated that the Ministry of Finance met the Wednesday deadline for the submission consessioning agreement. This is before the adhoc committee chairman, ordered fresh hearings on the matter to commence on Monday, September 12, 2011.
But reports that the committee is under tremendous pressure to jettison the probe refuses to go away. Ogor debunked the reports as outright falsehood. The probe launched broad investigations into whether the contract was reached in line with public procurement rules as petitioners insist it was awarded in secret. Broadly, the contract under probe requires that, for the next 15 to 20 years, Single Window Systems and Technology Limited will operate a new National Single Window (NSW) platform – a crucial technology-based import and export documentation services which already exists and for which the government has spent N300 billion.
Allegations that the contracted firm was phoney with bogus registration was punctured on day one of the ill-fated probe as the special adviser to the Registrar-General, Corporate
Affairs Commission (CAC), Abubakar Alhaji, who made a presentation at the public hearing, said the contracted Single Window Systems and Technology Limited was duly registered with the commission. He said the firm had not filed in its annual financial report because it had not existed up to a year. Alhaji said Single Window Systems and Technology Limited was registered on June 10, 2010, by three Nigerians with varying shareholdings.
Already, the system in operation has drawn N300 billion of federal funds spent to train customs officers and outsourcing to specialist firms, LEADERSHIP SUNDAY learnt. The firm operating the National Single Window (NSW) platform will levy extra charges on importation while also collecting tax on exports, a job that, primarily, belongs to the Nigeria Customs Service.
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Lawmakers said the terms and conditions of the concession deal in its present format will encourage diversion of Nigeria-bound goods to other countries over fear of charges, after which the products will later be smuggled in, resulting in loss of federal revenue.
The probe was ordered by the House last July after adopting a motion sponsored by a member, Dogara Yakubu. “When we start taxing exports for our kind of economy, it will kill manufacturing and destroy jobs” He said then. For years, this nation has lost a lot of money through illegal concessions and waivers and this investigation should be able to reverse that trend,” said Farouk Lawan (Kano, State PDP) in relation to the probe.
A Forgotten Power Probe
The House of Representatives have severally come under serious criticisms on its handling of previous probes it had undertaken in the past. In perhaps one of the most sensational cases, the Ndudi Elumelu Committee report which indicted former President Olusegun Obasanjo in the way and manner his administration executed the estimated $16 billion power project remains hidden till date.
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The Civil Society Legislative Centre (CISLAC) in one of the numerous criticms to the elusive report expressed dismay and surprise at what it described as ‘the show of shame’ over the non consideration of the Elumelu Committee report on the power sector. “When the House of Representatives decided to set up a committee to probe the power sector, Nigerians applauded the decision. The investigations were keenly followed by Nigerians and the startling revelations which showed that billions of naira was spent on the sector without commensurate results on project executions were also shocking.” CISLAC’s Executive Director, Auwal Ibrahim Musa Rafsanjani said in a release by the Civil Society.
The release read further: “Nigerians are equally aware of the findings of the Elumelu-led committee as they sat in the open and visited project sites in the full glare of television cameras. In most of the sites, Nigerians already know that in spite of the over 80% down payment by the Obasanjo administration, most of these sites could only boast of an empty piece of land.
“For the report to have been kept away from the public for so long until when the Nigerian people mounted pressure on the House of Representatives to make it public and consider it, only to be faced with the current diversionary tactics smacks off the feeling that so much water has passed under the bridge.
“The allegation that members of the committee were compromised and that out-spoken members of the House were offered financial inducements would not be doubted if the power probe report is ignored or reduced to who signed what or who did not sign.
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“What has happened so far is not only a disgrace but an insult to the sensibilities of Nigerians and portrays the federal legislature in bad light. In this era of anti-corruption and rebranding, we urge the National Assembly to take steps and rebrand itself in the eyes of Nigerians. The House of Representatives should consider the report as compiled by the Elumelu Committee. Nothing short of making the entire recommendation public and considering this will be acceptable by Nigerians. It would be simply fraudulent to toy with the destiny of Nigerians by trying to divert attention from the recommendations of the committee.”
As the customs contract probe recommences on Monday, Nigerians can only wait to see if this probe suffers the same the same fate with others in the past.
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