How Nigeria lost $5.7bn to shoddy concessions, PPP projects — Reps 

Members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday alleged that Federal Government lost over $5.7 billion to various public assets concessioned under Public-Private Projects (PPP) in the last few years.

Chairman, Ad-hoc Committee investigating the ‘Governing Lease of Federal Government-Owned Assets’, Hon. Daniel Asuquo, alleged that Federal Government is losing over $90.5 million annually due to the shoddy agreements between the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and its concessionaire at both local and international wings of the Murtala Muhammad Airport (MMA) Lagos.

According to him, “categories of public infrastructure that benefit from PPP include power generation plants, power transmission distribution network, roads and bridges, seaports, airports, railways, inland container depots, logistics hubs, etc.

“Beautiful as these may sound, it has been discovered over time that the realization of the Federal Government’s objective, may become a tall order if appropriate checks and balances are not put in place by way of oversight.

“A case in point is that of the Murtala Muhammad Domestic Airport Terminal 2 (MMA 2), the domestic terminal of the international airport situated in Lagos and its ancillary facilities which were developed under a BOT agreement. Regrettably, the Federal Government is losing over $90.5 million annually due to the shoddy agreements between the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and its concessionaire at both local and international wings of the Murtala Muhammad Airport (MMA) Lagos.

“Also in the Aviation Sector, in March 2021, the Secretary-General of the Association of Nigerian Aviation Professionals (ANAP) lamented in a document addressed to the Minister of Aviation, the blatant refusal of concessionaires to honour their agreements on land lease shop rentages, concessions and on BOT arrangements.

“Some of the agreements with the concessionaires made up of Traders, Vendors and Tenants at the Airports have elapsed for more than five years without renewal. In effect, the concessionaires have either not been paying rates or have been paying rates below the current going rates in airports across the world.

“A similar situation obtains in the maritime sector where the Nigerian Government has concessioned 26 ports in Nigeria to private companies. The tenures of the NPA concession agreements range from 15 to 25 years and the estimated revenue to the government from the concessions is estimated at over $6.54 billion over the period.

“However, JV companies have allegedly only realized an estimated sum of $3 billion since 2005 out of the total sum. The story and picture of the scenario is the same in almost all Federal Government agencies where concession agreements were entered into with private companies.

“0n the average, the Nigerian economy has lost over $5.7 billion from unfavourable and non-transparent Federal Government concession and lease agreements since its inception,” Hon. Asuquo stated. (Nigerian Tribune)