ABUJA — SPEAKER of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Masari has ordered a parliamentary investigation into the privatisation of the Aluminium Smelter Company, Ikot-Abasi, with a view to determining what led to the suspension of BFIG as preferred bidders.
Receiving the president of BFIG in his office yesterday, the speaker said the House Committee on Privatization should invite the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, Dr. Julius Bala for explanations on what transpired. According to the speaker, the explanation by the BPE would furnish the House with more information on how to tackle the situation. He explained that the House would be in a better position to take a more informed decision after it had heard from both parties on the dispute.
Earlier in his meeting with the speaker, BFIG president, Dr. Reuben Jaja said his decision to visit the speaker was to find a way out of the potential loss the botched ALSCON sale would cause investors. According to Dr. Jaja, the participation of the BFIG group in the ALSCON privatization programme was informed by the president’s call on all Nigerian professionals abroad to come back home and invest.
He however regretted that from the beginning, the BPE deliberately set booby traps in the way of the company. For instance, he said, Section 9.6 of the Sale Purchase Agreement was intentionally crafted to frustrate the efforts of the BFIG to source funds from investors.
The section states that ‘the purchaser shall not within the period of six months from the date of completion, undertake the following without prior written consent of BPE: bank borrowing except overdraft, trade credit and similar facilities required by the company other than in the normal course of its business’ and it shall not ‘change major suppliers and the auditors of the company.’
The provisions of this section, Dr. Jaja said, frightened prospective investors in the company who could not understand why BPE would ‘demand full payment for the property until within 90 days but will not release complete ownership of the property until after 180 days or six months and refuse or consent to opening an escrow to effect payment of the transaction and protect valuable considerations of all parties involved’.
He also accused the BPE of discriminatory extension practices as well discriminatory bid bond requirements for one million dollars. The BFIG boss also alleged that the national security apparatus ‘unfairly targeted’ the consortium and failed to do same on Rusal and its chairman, Oleg Derispaska. He alleged that facts gathered from the United States law enforcement authorities were distorted.
The speaker of the House of Representatives directed the chairman of the House Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation, Hon. Celestine Ughanze to invite the Director-General of BPE and report back to the House next week.
