The House of Representative Committee on Treaties, Protocols and Agreements has invited the Nigeria Ministry of Justice to explain more to the Nigeria public the sovereignty clause in the Nigeria/China loan agreement.
This was disclosed on Tuesday by the Chairman of the Committee, Nicholas Ossai, at the sitting of the panel, which was investigating the external loans and commercial agreements signed by Nigeria.
The Punch in its investigation revealed that there were indications that the committee members were divided as some of the lawmakers have faulted the approach of the chairman.
The argument was that the chairman of the committee is going to an area that did not concern the panel.
According to The Punch, the lawmakers included some members of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the PDP members feared that the manner the probe was being conducted would expose the deficiencies in loan agreement that the PDP government had took when the party was in power between 1999 and 2015.
One of the aggrieved members, who spoke to the Punch, on condition of anonymity after the committee sitting, posited that Ossai was probing the issue beyond his mandates.
According to the lawmaker, “Was he asked to oversight transport/works/ICT committees? The referral is about contents of agreements. If they are inimical to our wellbeing and our overall sovereign interest, the proper person to invite is the AGF (the Attorney General of the Federation (Abubakar Malami, SAN). He did not call him.
“All the directors of legal services of all the ministries, departments and agencies are (members of) staff of the Attorney General of the Federation office. Why didn’t he (Ossai) call the AGF?
“When Mr. President sent a request for loan approval, it was referred to the Committee on Loans Aids and Debt (Management). The committee brought its report, including the agreements and terms. It was discussed and approved by the Committee of the Whole. So, is Ossai now investigating the decision of the entire House and by extension the National Assembly too? Even most of the loans were taken by the PDP.”
However, Ossai, while speaking to journalists after the committee’s short sitting on Tuesday, said, he would continue with the probe and conclude it.
He said, “On Tuesday (next week), we are meeting. I will not soft-pedal on this issue. I’m going all out. To me, I feel Nigerians should be protected. Those clauses, we must make sure today they are renegotiated. We cannot say because you want to take loans, you will hold Nigerians by their jugular.
“Even when we approve loans, the second arm of the passage is a prayer that they will bring the details of those agreements to the National Assembly, which they have never brought.”
The West African Pilot News on Monday described the sovereignty clause in the Nigeria/Chinese loan as dangerous.
At the committee’s sitting on Monday, Oluwole Oke, disagree with Ossai.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government on Monday had confirmed the controversial clause relating to the sovereignty of Nigeria.
According to the Federal Ministry of Finance and National Planning, and the Ministry of Transportation, the clause is a global standard in bilateral agreements.
The committee suspended its investigative hearing till next week Tuesday at its hearing on last Tuesday.
Ossai, who led the committee members into the venue about one hour behind schedule, called for the adjournment after the opening prayers.
Ossai added that the committee needed to scrutinize the documents before it, while the panel would also demand explanations from the Federal Ministry of Justice.
He said, “You are aware that I, as the chairman of this committee, will not ambush my colleagues in terms of new documents submitted. We need to digest most of these documents and go through the documents’ clause by clause.
“There is also an important office in this country that has been part of the negotiating team, which is the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Justice has been reached. They need to be part of this because of the revelations that are coming up now on most of these clauses. And these are the people who were supposed to have seen the clauses embedded in the documents. So, we also need the Ministry of Justice to be able to interface with them.
“More importantly, we also need the Minister of Finance, who was supposed to be here. The ministry signed most of these agreements with other countries.
“So, I am seeking the indulgence and the permission of my committee members to begin to look at this issue and probably adjourn for one week, to enable us to digest this matter and re-invite the honourable ministers that are here and those that are not here, so that we can conclude this matter as soon as possible, so that we can make our recommendation to the National Assembly.”
The committee then resolved to adjourn its sitting till Tuesday.
