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Corrective Legislative Approach Will Earn 10th Senate Public Confidence, says Ekong Sampson

By Samuel Udoma

Senator Ekong Sampson, representing Akwa Ibom South in the National Assembly, has called for corrective legislative approach from the Senate on matters of the state, stating that such will earn the 10th Assembly, public confidence.

Senator Sampson said this at the Senate plenary yesterday while contributing to a motion by Senator Aniekan Bassey, representing Akwa Ibom North-East.

Senator Bassey in his motion, had called on the Senate to investigate the controversial Make-Up Gas (MUG) reprocessing deal involving the Federal Ministry of Finance, Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), Calabar Generation Company Limited and Aquagas Limited.

According to Senator Bassey, ‘the controversial MUG deal was devoid of transparency and allegedly involved the payment of huge sums of money as fees to Transactions Advisers even when Aquagas Ltd was reportedly discussing the extension of the sunset date for the utilization of the MUG without the involvement of paid consultants or Transaction Advisers with an addendum to the Gas Supply Agreement (GSA) already signed between the parties’.

Senator Bassey prayed the Senate to set up an Ad-Hoc Committee with a mandate to investigate the circumstances under which the GSA and MUG arrangement was executed, the parties involved, payments so far made to entities to date and the status of implementation of the GSA – which involves a whooping $10million monthly Take-or-Pay Obligation clause by the Federal Government to Aquagas.

Also at the plenary, the Senate resolved to investigate the circumstances leading to the concession of the Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja alongside other aviation related matters in the country.

The Senate’s decision followed a motion titled, “Urgent Need to Reverse the Concession of Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano”, sponsored by Senator Kawu Sumaila, (NNPP, Kano South). The plenary presided over by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Jibrin Barau, resolved to carry out a holistic investigation on the matter as soon as the Committee on Aviation was constituted.

In his contribution, Senator Ekong Sampson, who represents an oil and gas rich senatorial district in Akwa Ibom State, observed ‘great merit in the motion as framed and canvassed by Senator Aniekan Bassey’.

In his support for the motion, Senator Sampson declared:

‘We all know the importance of the power sector in this country. It is fitting that this Senate has adopted a corrective approach to legislative business. Our corrective posture will earn us the needed public confidence.

‘The issues raised by the motion are very weighty. Huge sums of money are involved. It is important that we exercise our investigative powers in a matter as this. So there is clearly merit in this motion and I want to support the spirit that has driven the motion’, he added.

Senator Sampson maintained that the Senate’s interest in such a motion will do the country great good. Sampson noted that the motion ‘situates well within the parameters’ of the 10th Senate as an investigative parliament.