HSL International Limited, the firm the Federal Government awarded the Deep Blue Project contract, is not registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
The Commission told the House of Representatives Committee on Navyduring an investigative hearing in Abuja on Wednesday.
Chairman of the committee, Yusuf Gagdi, (APC, Plateau) told the hearing that the lawmakers were shocked when the CAC said it did not have HSL on its records.
He said consequently, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; and the Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Bashir Jamoh, were asked to provide details of the company.
President Muhammadu Buhari had on June 11, 2021, inaugurated the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure in Nigeria, also known as the Deep Blue Project, at the ENL Terminal, Apapa Port, Lagos State.
The contract is said to be worth $214.83m including $195.3m for the actual contract and an additional $19.53m NIMASA agreed to pay to HSL for management training consideration.
Gagdi said several ministries, departments, and agencies as well as corporations and parastatals of the Federal Government had been invited to appear before the committee, including the Ministry of Transportation; Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning; Bureau of Public Procurement, among others.
The lawmaker said some had dissociated themselves from the contract, such as the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Nigerian Ports Authority.
He said, “Then, this one is the one that gives me a headache that I want members and everybody here to hear (about). We wrote a letter to the Corporate Affairs Commission and this is what they said (in their response).
“Please be informed that there is information on the exact name HSL International Limited readily available as a registered entity on the Corporate Affairs Commission’s records. You may wish to, however, forward the available documents in support of their registration to us, to enable us to investigate further.
“So, when the ministry (of transport) comes, we will ask them the records of that HSL so that we will forward them to the Corporate Affairs Commission for further investigation. But as it is, they have said they don’t have records regarding that (company).”
Gagdi also noted that the committee had invited HSL International Limited as well as some relevant civil society organisations and non-governmental organisations.
He noted that with the exclusion of the CBN, NPA and the OAcGF, “It has reduced the number of agencies that will appear here to NIMASA and (Ministry of) Transport, then the services, then HSL which we don’t know whether it is true or not.”
The lawmaker stated, “We will get there; we will know who the owners of HSL are.”
Gagdi added, “Today, our Armed Forces are here – the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy and the Nigerian Air Force – to equally partake in this investigative hearing.
“For the purpose of those of you that have our letters of invitation, I am in receipt of a communication from the Ministry of Transport requesting and appealing to this committee to change their date of appearance from yesterday (Tuesday) and we have given them another date to appear – on Tuesday next week – to explain because they seem to be at the center of most of the issues that we are going to be unveiling here, as well as NIMASA.”
