The House of Representatives has summoned the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari, to appear before it next Wednesday for allegedly awarding a coastal shipping contract to a foreign company, UNIBROS, which it says is a breach of the Local Content law.
The House said the failure of NNPC to appear, the Committee would invoke the powers given to it by the National Assembly.
The Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, as well as the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), were also summoned by the Committee.
The summons followed the absence of the NNPC, the transport ministry and the NCDMB at an investigative hearing by the House Committee on Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring, on the contract allegedly awarded in 2020 in breach of the Cabotage Act.
The Committee Chairman, Hon Legor Idagbor, directed the three agencies to furnish it with every single detail of the contract, as it did not have a single document in relation to the contract in its possession.
According to a letter from the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mohammed Nami, read at the hearing, UNIBROS is not registered in its database and that payment has been made in the name of the company
Making a presentation before the committee, the President of the Shippers Association of Nigeria (SOAN), Dr MkGeorge Onyung, said the NNPC sidelined local shippers and without due process and awarded the contract to UNIBROS, despite the fact that Nigeria Ship Owners have the capacity to carry out the job.
The Vice President of the Shipowners Association of Nigeria, Eno Williams, who also spoke before the Committee, stressed the need to apply the Cabotage Law in the shipping business to create opportunities and encourage indigenous ship owners to do business in Nigeria.
A letter from the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mohammed Nami, read at the hearing said, UNIBROS is not registered in the FIRS database and no payment has ever been made in the name of the company
The Director-General of the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Dr Bashir James said the Cabotage Act of 2003 provides the trading under the law, Vessels must be built locally, Owned, Manned and Registered by a Nigerian.
Chairman of the Committee, Legor Idagbor who said the Shipowners association have convinced the Committee of their capacity to handle shipping contracts, expressed displeasure with the NNPC for shunning the hearing.
He said the GMD of NNPC should have at least had the courtesy of himself responding to the communication issued by the committee.
The Chairman adjourned the hearing to Wednesday, next week.
