More reactions trail N2.8bn Lagos Trade Fair fraud

More reactions have continued to trail recent media reports on alleged high scale fraud unearthed at the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex; a strategic arm of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, under the supervision of Dr. Olusegun Aganaga, leading to the arrest and prosecution of suspects by the anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
According to reports, the complex was concessioned to a private company to manage but due to high level corruption, a dubious clause was introduced by directors and civil servants who are said to be connected with other powerful persons in government who have been benefitting from alleged illegal transactions within the complex, thereby subverting implementation of the concessionary contract.
Following these startling discoveries, observers have begun to question why the fraud was kept under the carpet until the EFCC had to uncover it. For example, findings show that there was an outright refusal by the ministry to carry out two presidential directives. The first was meant to enforce the implementation of the concessionary agreement entered into by the Federal Government, and another was presidential memo to punish those involved in flouting the presidential directives of the presidency under President Goodluck Jonathan as acting president. It is believed that none of these presidential directives was honoured. Instead, it took the concerted efforts of the EFCC for the whole mess to be exposed. The sum of N2.8billion is said to be involved in the scandal.
Sources within the ministry told Nigerian Pilot that the knotty issues surrounding the concessionary agreement signed between the Federal Government and the concessionaire in 2007 are predicated on partial handing over of the facility to the concessionaire, Aulic Nigeria Limited, alleged illegal collection of revenues on leases and land rents at the trade fair complex, as well as allegation that top officials of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment have been collecting statutory allocation from the Federal Government for years to pay ghost workers of over 4,000.
The problem was compounded by a controversial statement credited to the minister, Aganga, stating that he had received instruction from the vice president, who supervises the National Council on Privatisation, NCP, to use legal means to terminate the concessionary contract without back-up reasons.
Expectedly, stakeholders, especially the investors, have raised alarm over this the statement by the minister and the alleged spate of corruption going on at the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex.
Mr. James Amana, a retired permanent secretary, regretted the sad development, stressing that matters such as this should worry every patriotic Nigerian. “From Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.the foregoing, it is observable that, if the EFCC was silent, the problem would probably not have come to the public domain as it is currently. This is where we, like many patriotic Nigerians, have our fears about governance system in the country and in this context, it raises disturbing questions”, he said.
Continuing he asked: “Why was the presidential order flouted with such impunity? In the civil service rule, if any civil servant is dragged to court on official matter such as in this case of alleged official corruption, the affected ministry is expected to report the development to the office of the Head of Service for appropriate action. Has this been reported accordingly? Or has the civil service rule changed? Who are the vested, impudent interests that dared to commit treason by disrespecting presidential order without deserving severe punishment?” Mr. Amana stated.
In his own reaction, Mrs. Sarah Ochefu, a civil servant, said “The ugly picture of how government policies and programmes are being handled by the civil servants and leaders is made obvious.
“Corruption in our system is largely anchored on the culture of impunity, indiscipline; flagrant abuse of rules and regulations, slaughtering of national interest on the altar of personal interest. Is anybody still surprised that the concession policy has not yielded the expected results across board? If not that President Jonathan took decisive steps against entrenched corrupt structures through the ongoing reforms of critical sectors of the economy such as the power, agriculture, rail, petroleum, financial and aviation sectors, the country was under a destructive siege of economic saboteurs and would have been declared a bankrupt state two year ago”.
Observers therefore consider the mismanagement of the Lagos trade fair complex under the concessionary contract as economic sabotage as well as an embarrassment to the present administration engineered by those who do not want the present administration to succeed. “I unequivocally condemn it. While I commend the efforts of the EFCC in this matter and urge it to continue to hunt for other suspected criminal elements an agents of opposition in destroying our system, we strongly recommend deeper investigation in this case so as to unravel where this conduit pipe of corruption leads to with a view to bringing culprits to book’, said a worried civil servant in Abuja yesterday, who pleaded anonymity.