Posted by From ISAAC ANUMIHE, Abuja on
Ahead of the release of the probe panel's report on the power sector, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Dimeji Bankole, has given an insight into the report, saying that instead of $16 billion as stated earlier, former President Olusegun Obasanjo's administration squandered $13.5 billion.
Ahead of the release of the probe panel's report on the power sector, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Dimeji Bankole, has given an insight into the report, saying that instead of $16 billion as stated earlier, former President Olusegun Obasanjo's administration squandered $13.5 billion.
The speaker dropped the hint when members of the House met with some business leaders in Abuja on Wednesday.
According to Bankole, the full details of the report would soon be out. He added that the bank consolidation that was carried out in 2005 has left Nigerians poorer and has inflicted much pains on them.
Furthermore, he told the meeting that for a fact, $16 billion was appropriated for the Obasanjo administration but $13.5 billion was eventually released for the power project regretting that the immediate past administration could not account for the large sum of money spent on the project.
He attributed infrastructural deficiencies to the low development of the steel sector while reasoning that Ajaokuta Steel Company could have been used to exploit the steel sector. To this end, he accused Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and the Federal Government for fraudulently selling Ajaokuta Steel Company for $300 million even though the actual worth is $4.7 billion.
More so, he claimed that the core-investor did not commit itself with a down payment before taking over the company.
'The payment arrangement is just like you don't put any money down. Those things cannot work," he said, insisting that Ajaokuta Steel Company was vital to the implementation of the seven-point agenda of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.
Having said that, he mandated the House of Representatives Committee on Privatization and Transportation to revisit the sale of the enterprise.
'Some companies, under the guise of core investors cannot come to Nigeria, buy our assets and begin to cannibalise them. We sold these companies to them so that they can be improved upon," Bankole said.
The speaker also picked holes on the banking consolidation.
According to him, when the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, canvassed the idea, he gave the impression that banks would be bigger and serve the ordinary Nigerians better but regretted that the project has left Nigerians poorer through high interest rate and other high bank charges.