Senate Orders Customs To Recover NIPP’s Equipment

The Senate Committee on Power, has given the Nigerian Customs Service just one week to produce all those involved in the illegal auction of high-tech equipment for the National Independent Power Project (NIPP) for prosecution while the service recovers all the equipment auctioned.

The Chairman of the Senate Panel , Senator Philip Aduda in a meeting with ,the top officials of customs and the Ministry of Power over the said auction of the high- tech equipment expressed dissatisfaction over the absence of of the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who had been invited to give explanation on the issue and directed that she be made to appear next Tuesday.

The panelists were also infuriated by the inability of high ranking officials of Customs to give the names of the officers involved in the illegal auction as well as the identity of the auctioneer.

The lawmakers rejected explanations by the Deputy Comptroller General of Customs, John Atteh that the equipment were abandoned at the port by the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and were disposed of after being left for more than the required 60 days for clearance at the port. The Senate Committee also rejected the presentations by the Minister of Power, Prof. Bath Nnaji that President Goodluck Jonathan had already ordered the suspension of the errant customs officials in addition to ordering the suspension of any further auction of power equipment in the country.

Insisting on an independent inquiry and prosecution of culprits, the senators demanded that the culprits be unmasked and prosecuted.

The Power Minister had said that it would be impossible to recover the equipment because, according to him, the auctioned wares had already gone into the open markets in the country but conceded that the situation indeed posed great threat to the actualisation of set targets.

According to the minister, “it is likely that all the equipments might not be recovered and this is a serious problem. Just to remove a pin from a power equipment might mean that such equipment will not work and to get replacement, if possible will take several months. So it is a serious issue”

Senator Aduda in his ruling noted that the Senate would not take the issues lightly as all those fingered in the issues must be unmasked and prosecuted.

According to him, the Senate would not depend on the intervention of the Presidency but would conduct its independent probe. “We must get to the root of this matter”, he said.

Nneka Amaechi-Nnadi, Abuja