Concession: Obasanjo, Jonathan, El-Rufai, others may face Senate probe

Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has said it will summon all the prominent players in the past governments that participated in the concession and privatisation exercise.
The panel also disclosed it will soon begin a holistic investigation into issues relating to the concession and privatisation of some government properties in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), to the tune of N2.7 billion.
The Senate committee said despite huge investments in the FCT, the revenue portion on the investments stood at zero per cent, over the years.
Committee chairman, Senator Dino Melaye, said this during a meeting with FCT Minister, Muhammad Musa Bello and other senior staff of the territory.
Said Melaye: “It is worthy of note that these FCT-owned companies received huge returns on investment without making returns to the FCT Administration. The returns were in billions of naira. They were 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.”
The concession and privatisation of these government properties was carried out during the administration of former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan, just as the FCT ministers at those times were Nasir El- Rufai who is now the governor of Kaduna State; Dr. Aliyu Modibbo Umar; Senator Bala Mohammed, among others.
Meanwhile, the FCTA minister, told the committee that the concession was not carried out now, just as he disclosed that all those who took the decision were not in the hall and in the present government.
Bello informed the committee that he has put in place a seven-man interim management team, headed by Dr. Bashir Isyaku,  to oversee the affairs of the the concession and privatisation, just as he pleaded with the Senate to give the committee time to complete its assignment and present the report.
Melaye retorted: “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 pitch. We, as members of this committee, will continue to bridge the meaning of our resolve with realities through our oversight for effective implementation…”
“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.
“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.
“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.
|Sun