By Rotimi Ajayi & Dayo Lawal
Posted to the Web: Friday, May 06, 2005

Also to appear before the House Committee probing the privatisation of the Aluminium Smelting Company, Ikot Abasi and the concessioning of the Iron Ore Mining Company is the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mrs Irene Chigbue.

Already, Agriculture Minister, Mallam Adamu Bello, who was threatened, Wednesday, by the Senate Committee on Agriculture with prosecution by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for alleged improper award of fertilizer importation contracts, has fired back at his accusers.

He said one of his principal accusers, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Dr. Bode Olowoporoku, demanded 30,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer worth N1.5 billion from him.

The decision to invite Mr Obasanjo and Dr Chigbue was reached yesterday when the House adopted a motion on the concessioning in respect of the iron ore company at Itakpe.

The motion which was sponsored by 15 members of the House led by the Majority Leader, Abdul Ningi, sought to unravel the circumstances behind Federal Government’s decision to give the Itakpe company out on terms said to be inimical to the economic interest of Nigeria.

The Reps said they had discovered that the company to which the Itapke ore plant was given had concluded arrangement to replace Nigerian engineers with Indians.

Contributing to the debate, Alhaji Bashir Nadabo, said information available to him suggested that Gbenga had link with Global Infrastructure (Nigeria), which was given the concession. Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila said the president’s son was also being invited to help the House Committee with information on those who had purchased some of the companies privatised by the present administration.

He said the relevance of Mr. Obasanjo was sequel to the latter’s recent statement that Nigerians should concern themselves with those who were buying everything in Nigeria rather than looking into his alleged foreign account.

The House also resolved to override President Obasanjo on the Privatisation Bill which he refused assent last year.
The President had refused assent to the bill on several grounds among which was that the National Assembly lacked power to review the laws affecting privatisation of public companies in Nigeria.

The President also claimed that the National Assembly could not by its mandate review the action taken so far on the privatisation exercise. He observed that the Privatisation Decree, which set up the National Council on Privatisation, had empowered the council as the highest authority on the implementation of the privatisation exercise.

Concluding debate on the issue yesterday, Speaker of the House, Alhaji Aminu Masari, said the leadership of the House would liaise with that of the Senate on the refusal of the President to assent to the bill.

Agric Minister fires back

Minister of Agriculture, Mallam Adamu Bello, yesterday fired back at the Chairman, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Dr Bode Olowoporoku, who on Wednesday accused the minister of improper award of fertilizer contracts to the tune of N3.55 billion. The minister said it was Dr. Olowoporoku that demanded 30,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer from his ministry.
He put the cost of that at N1.5 billion and showed reporters the photocopy of a letter purportedly written by Dr. Olowoporoku making the request.

Mallam Bello said there was no iota of truth in the claim that he connived with two Indian-owned fertilizer firms to inflate the price of imported fertilizer contract to N3.5 billion, adding that all the transactions he made on the award of the fertilizer contract in year 2004 were in line with the due process of the presidency. He described all the allegations raised by the Senator as unfounded and deliberate attempt to dent his image. The minister added that of the 194 companies that bidded for the fertilizer contract, only 89 companies succeeded in the exercise.

He explained that the face-off between the chairman of the committee on Agriculture and himself started right from the time the company he sponsored failed to meet the requirements for the award of the fertilizer contracts. The minister added that sometime ago, when the issue was raised by the same Senate committee, the presidency investigated, adding that he would soon drag Dr. Olowoporoku to ICPC and EFCC for prosecution.

Mallam Bello who regretted appointing Dr. Olowoporoku as chairman of the committee on Cocoa development hinted that the Senator was sacked for alleged fraudulent acts and asked the police to immediately retrieve the jeep attached to his office as chairman.