The House of Representatives Committee on Marine Safety/Education alleged on Wednesday that companies engaged by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency to collect revenue on its behalf failed to remit over $286 million to the Federal Government.
The committee chaired by Hon. Mohammed Bago is investigating the processes that led to the award of the contracts and others that had generated petitions from members of the public over the past three years.
One of such contracts is the National Security Surveillance and Waterways contract awarded to HLI International Systems and Technologies Limited, an Israeli company for $198 million.
The committee had summoned staff of the contractor, others believed to have benefitted from the contract and the both the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, and the Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, for clarifications on the subject for deliberations.
During Wednesday’s session, the lawmakers spent elaborate time on deliberations of the Deep Blue Project, a security surveillance contract, which was designed to monitor the country’s waterways and combat illegal activities.
Specifically, under its first phase of execution, the project is designed to train 1,000 naval personnel; 1,000 soldiers; 1,000 marine policemen; and 200 Department of State Service operatives, who will run intelligence gathering operations on the waterways and combat criminality.
Under its second phase, HLI International Systems and Technologies Limited was contracted to supply three special mission helicopters; 17 special patrol boats; two special mission aircraft; 16 fast vehicles; and four units of UAVs.
During the deliberations on the contracts, the lawmakers queried the alleged violation of due process in the award of the multi-million dollar contract and the implications of allowing a foreign company to be involved with a sensitive project that has to do with Nigeria’s internal security.
The representative of the Minister and the ministry’s Director of Procurement, Mr Shehu Aliyu, dismissed allegations of due process breaches during the committee’s hearing.
He explained that after the presidential and Federal Executive Council (FEC’s) approvals had been secured in 2016, a certificate of no objection was also obtained from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) before the contract was finally awarded.
The Director claimed that being a security contract, the law allowed for some waivers to fast-track the award of such contract.
Similarly, NIMASA’s Executive Director, Mr. Gambo Ahmed, who represented the agency’s Director General, told the committee that though he was aware that the agency had been under the watch of anti-graft agencies in the past, he stated the commitment of the Peterside-led management to transparency in all areas of NIMASA’s operations.
He stressed: “All our contracts are transparent and our books are open. We are ready to provide any information that the committee wants us to provide.”
During the hearing, HLS’ Managing Director, Mr. Tai Spektor, made a presentation to the committee to prove his company’s technical and other competencies to handle the project.
