The House of Representatives has urged the Federal
government to stop further sale of some assets of the Power Holding Company of
Nigeria (PHCN).
The lawmakers said the sale of PHCN’s overtime cargoes was
fraudulent with opportunities denied qualified bidders that have no personal
relationships with those in charge of the exercise.
Consequently, the Committees on Power and Public Procurement
have been mandated to investigate the alleged fraudulent sale of the assets.
The decision of the House followed the adoption of a motion
of urgent national importance by Rita Oji (PDP, Lagos), who recalled that
auctioning of PHCN overtime cargoes, scraps and obsolete items by the Nigeria
Electricity Liability Management Company (NELMCO) valued at over N20billion was
recently carried out and over N1.5billion was claimed to have been realised
from the sale.
According to her, there were widespread claims of
irregularities and improper advertisement on national dailies including the Traders
Journal.
She said: “Allegations of posting fraudulent and misleading
ads for the sale of high-value items on selected dailies from anticipated
buyers were prominent
“People who heard about the auction and showed interest were
purportedly disallowed or given the opportunity to buy the assets after
fulfilling all necessary requirements for the purchase.
“It is worrisome that the bidding process was allegedly
neither transparent nor forthright, allegations of fraudulent activities
trailed the sales and the outcome of the activities ended in dispute.
“If the outcry by the public against the seemingly spurious
sales and auctions is left unattended to, it will set a bad precedence for any
such transactions in the future.
“The outcry is vociferous, the allegation are weighty and a
comprehensive and detailed scrutiny would enable both the alleged offended and
offender to be treated judiciously”.
The motion was unanimously adopted after it was put to a
voice vote by the presiding officer, Deputy Speaker Yussuff Lasun.
The joint Committee was given a month to carry out its
workman’s report back for further legislative action was also asked to monitor
further sales of remaining overtime cargoes.
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