Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
House of Representatives, yesterday resolved to set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the termination of N25 billion concession agreement between Transmission Commission of Nigeria (TCN) and Phase 3 Telecom Limited by the former.
The committee has two weeks to report back to the House for further legislative actions.
This followed the adoption of a motion by Rita Orji on the issue at yesterday’s plenary.
The development is coming barely 24 hours after the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, expressed frustration over multiple probes on related issues in his ministry by the House.
Recall that Fashola while speaking at an investigative hearing organised by the House Committee on Power on the management of TCN on Monday, said the many probes on departments and agencies under his ministry were a distraction.
Leading debate on the motion, Orji stated that in 2006, the TCN signed a Concession Agreement with Phase 3 Telecom Ltd, under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement for fibre optic deployment projects.
According to her, the agreement entailed that the firm would Design, Build, Finance and Operate (DBFO) infrastructure with unhindered access to existing and future fibre optic infrastructure on the network.
The lawmaker noted that after the agreement, the company carried out an extensive expansion and upgrade on the existing 450km fibre on TCN’s power lines, as well as installation of about 1600km of new fibres on the routes where there were no fibre.
She argued that between 2006 and 2017, Phase 3 Telecom Ltd, has invested about N25billion in deploying optic fibre across the country, apart from other costs it incured.
Orji further contended that the termination of the concession agreement by the TCN was done without following due process. She noted that if such unilateral termination of agreement was allowed, it would discourage investors from participating in the PPP initiative of the government.