Senate Opposes Assets Sale, To Probe MTN For Alleged $13.92bn Fraud

Posted by Jay




The Nigerian Senate on Tuesday rejected a recommendation of its ad hoc committee on the state of the economy which recommended assets sale as one of the steps to recovery from recession.

It will be recalled that Senate President Bukola Saraki had last week endorsed the suggestion by Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote that the federal government should sell some of its assets to shore up foreign reserves.

The federal government through the National Economic Council (NEC) headed by the vice-president, Prof Yemi Osinbajo also expressed support for the notion that assets sale could help the country raise money to stimulate spending to reverse the recession.

The finance minister, Mrs Kemi Adeosun and the budget minister, Mr Udoma Udo-Udoma on Monday explained that only some assets would be sold under the plan and that the assets were yet to be identified.

On Tuesday however, at the plenary of the senate, as the ad hoc committee on the state of the economy headed by Senator Yahaya Abdullahi presented its report, a number of senators opposed the move.

Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu restated his opposition to any plans to sell national assets simply to raise money for spending. His position was supported by Senate Leader Ali Ndume and a number of other senators.


The third prayer in the report tendered by Senator Abdullahi’s committee was therefore rejected.

The senate recommended that the federal government should renegotiate existing oil contracts to increase its share of the profits rather than embark on assets sale.

Senate President Bukola Saraki who had last week supported the suggestion to sell some national assets stated that the report of the committee and the decision of the Senate after taking a vote was an indication that democracy was in progress.

Saraki added that the senate would continue to offer its support to the executive arm and also pass necessary bills to ensure the recovery of the economy.

Also at Tuesday’s plenary, Senator Dino Melaye raised a motion accusing telecommunications company, MTN Nigeria Ltd of violating Nigeria’s foreign exchange with the help of government officials and some Nigerian banks.

Melaye noted that MTN had illegally repatriated the sum of $13.92bn out of Nigeria through different means including the use of fraudulent certificates of capital importation.

The Kogi senator alleged that the minister for Trade and Investment, Mr Okechukwu Enelamah was privy to the alleged illegal acts of MTN.

Senate President Saraki described the allegations as weighty and referred the matter to the appropriate committee for investigation.






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