THE House of Representatives yesterday declared the concession agreement between the Federal Government and Single Window Technology Limited a nullity.
It gave failure to adhere to due process in the agreement between the company and the Federal Ministry of Finance as reason for its action.
The House, which adopted the report of the Ad-Hoc Committee that probed the deal, proposed that the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) should take over the operation, supervision and management of the Nigeria Customs Integrated Information Services at the expiration of the Webb Fontaine Contract in December 2012.
The lawmakers called for the prosecution of all government officials and promoters of the Single Windows System Technology for circumventing the nation's laws.
The Lower Chamber during the debate on a motion on the concession agreement expressed concern that the Federal Ministry of Finance did not follow due process before granting a new concession to a new company without requisite technical, managerial and financial competence in telecommunication.
Chairman of the panel and Deputy Majority Leader of the House, Leo Ogor, who submitted the report on the floor at plenary yesterday, said the project was not submitted to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for approval in line with Section 3 of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) Act 2005.
According to him, officials of the Federal Ministry, who signed the pact "neither carried out due diligence search of the company to ascertain its financial, managerial and technical competence as required by law nor was the ministry able to provide any technical agreement to back its decision."
He pointed out that "the concession was never advertised in the media as required by the ICRC Act, adding that the incorporation of the Single Window was irregular, in view of the false declaration of one Yoada Salesha, a Briton and Ethiopian, but claimed to be a Nigerian."
The House also called for the amendment of the Customs and Excise Management Act to enable the NCS manage the Single Window system in Nigeria and/or establishment of a legal and regulatory framework for Nigeria Customs Integrated Information System which shall be an automated and electronic system for processing commercial importation.
The Guardian