The House of Representatives Thursday directed the National Council on Privatisation to compel the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) to halt the proposed liquidation of the Nigeria Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) and its subsidiary, Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTEL).
The Lower chamber also reversed the sale of NECOM House, a core asset of the former telecommunications monopoly.
These came same day the House passed through the second reading stage, the N55.8 billion 2013 Appropriation of the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC). The directive also coincided with the declaration of the House that the federal government has not demonstrated the political capacity to truly tackle crude oil theft in the country.
The lawmakers halted the liquidation of NITEL and MTEL, after they considered and adopted the report of the joint committees on Privatisation and Commercialisation, Finance, Communications, Public procurement and Information Technology. Chairman, House Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation, Hon. Khadijat Bukar Abba Ibrahim, had laid the report on May 9, 2013.
The report urged the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) to direct the Bureau for Public Enterprise (BPE) to comply with Federal High Court judgments in favour of the 3,000 former staff of NITEL and MTEL, who were treated as casuals as well as the pensioners of both firms.
The House also said the NCP should consider the proposal for revamping the companies.
Other resolutions adopted by the House are as follows: "The National Council on Privatisation (NCP) should consider Public-Private Partnership (PPP) as a privatisation strategy for the companies and maintain the National Carrier status for security reasons.
"The federal government should direct the Ministry of Finance to comply with the agreement between NITEL and the Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to deduct from source the reconciled N6.2 billion and remit to NITEL for immediate settlement of outstanding staff salary arrears/other fringe benefits and resuscitation of the company
"The federal government should plead with the state governors to reconcile the N4billion NITEL debt and pay accordingly. "The federal government should direct Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) and Nigeria Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) Management to determine the fees due to the new regime. "The federal government should direct Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to include the present management of NITEL and MTEL in the National Broadband Implementation Road map.
In reversing the sale of NECOM House, the lawmakers said the facility being a core asset should not have been sold given its strategic role in the operation of the NITEL and MTEL and the security implications of selling it.
The report urged the NCP to recommend to federal government to include NITEL and MTEL in Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) bail out intervention fund with a total sum equivalent to $1 billion USD to be refunded with interest over a period of five years.
And in a related development, the House, yesterday, also accused the federal government of lacking the political will to stop the activities of oil pipeline vandals and crude oil thieves operating in the coastal region of Nigeria.
The Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Hon. Zakary Mohammed, who made the accusation at a media chat, charged the government to stop giving excuses over the menace of illegal oil bunkering but tackle the challenge decisively if it wanted to bring it to an end.
Mohammed urged the government to strengthen the capacity of security agencies to protect the oil pipelines and apply sanctions against anybody or agency that failed in the discharge of their responsibilities.
He blamed the current revenue shortfall and the cash crunch affecting all the three tiers of government on crude oil theft and called for a concerted effort to bring it to an end before it does more harm to the economy.
"We are sick and tired of excuses on this issue. Those involved in this illegal business are not ghosts and we know that the challenge is not insurmountable if government has the political will to fight it. We see this as economic sabotage and we should be more creative in tackling it.
Meanwhile, the House has proceeded on another short break to conclude its oversight functions on government agencies.
The House, which resumed plenary on Tuesday, would suspend sittings for two weeks and would resume plenary on October 22. Also Thursday, the House urged the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in conjunction with the Edo State Ministry of Environment to visit the areas affected by the recent flood in Benin City and assist the victims.
Source: Thisday
No comments:
Post a Comment