The House of Representatives Committee investigating the public-private partnership and concessions programme has threatened to cancel all leases and concessions in the federal transport ministry.

Ademorin Kuye, chairman of the House Committee on Public Assets, said this when the Federal Ministry of Transport delegation led by the permanent secretary, Pius Oteh, appeared before the committee in Abuja.

He said the PPP and concessions agreement between the Nigerian Railway Corporation and the Railway Property Management Company Limited (RPMC) might be cancelled due to non-compliance with extant laws.

Mr Oteh, however, told the committee that the ministry has over 170 leases but could not provide the relevant documents required by lawmakers to prove compliance with the extant laws.

One of the required documents is the receipt of payment, which the lawmakers said was not attached to the documents submitted by the ministry in disregard of their request.

In its resolution, the committee invited the minister, NRC CEO and other relevant organisations to appear at their next sitting.

The chairman warned that the committee would not hesitate to invoke relevant constitutional provisions if any organisation failed to honour its invitation.

“As you may be aware, this committee will not hesitate to invoke the relevant constitutional provisions if any head of ministry, agency or department fails to honour the invitation of this committee.

“We can issue an arrest warrant and direct the relevant security agencies to bring such persons here,” he said.

He noted that improper management of government assets through public-private partnerships and concessions has been one of the major challenges in infrastructure development.

Through its resolution in February, the House of Representatives mandated the committee on public assets and special duties to investigate public-private partnership initiatives and concession agreements across the country.

The committee noted that despite initiating several PPPs and concession programmes, the outcomes have been mixed, with some projects stalled and others failing to yield anticipated results.

(NAN)