The concessioning of Lagos International Trade Fair Complex to Aulic Nigeria Limited is in breach of subsisting lease agreements between the management of the complex and business stakeholders, a report of the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions has said.
The committee, headed by Mr. C.I.D. Maduabum, arrived at the conclusion after its investigations into the protracted dispute between the LITFC Forum of Stakeholders and the Bureau for Public Enterprises over the concessioning of the complex.
A detailed copy of the report, which our correspondent obtained in Abuja on Sunday, showed that the committee completed the investigations and submitted its findings to the House on November 24.
The stakeholders, who petitioned the House on the matter in July, included the Registered Trustees of the Auto-Spare Parts and Machinery Dealers Association; the Registered Trustees of the Balogun Business Association; and the Registered Trustees of the Association of Progressive Traders.
The committee found out that ASPAMDA and BBA executed renewable leases of 50 years each, which gave them rights to own parts of the complex for the duration of the agreements.
APT had a lease covering 25 years. The three leases, which allowed the stakeholders to “expend substantial monetary sums in developing the complex,” took effect from January 5, 1995.
However, after allegedly developing the leased portions of the complex, the BPE advertised it for sale in 2003.
Part of the report reads, “In response, the Forum indicated its interest to participate in the bidding and paid the mandatory fee of $15, 000.
“To the surprise of the forum, the BPE cancelled the process as advertised after it (forum) had indicated interest and paid the mandatory fee, and purportedly handed over the complex to Aulic Nigeria Limited within a framework that undermines the proprietary interest of the forum in the complex.”
The BPE had, however, argued that the concessioning of the complex to Aulic did not alter the subsisting lease interests of the stakeholders and added that the advertised bid was also inconclusive.
But the committee, which equally received submissions from the former Minister of Commerce and Industry, Chief Charles Ugwu; Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry; TEMPO International Co. Nig. Ltd; and the Management Board of LITFC, described the transaction as “unlawful.”
It noted, “The Lagos International Trade Fair Complex Management Board is an establishment of law. Therefore, the purported handover of the management of the complex to Aulic without an amendment of the existing law by an Act of the National Assembly is unlawful.
“Until the Act setting up the board is amended, the board of the LITFC remains the authentic and lawful body entrusted with the general management of the complex and should be restored.
“BPE shall pay back whatever money that TEMPO International Co. Nig. Ltd. (with Central Bank prevailing interest rate) for the bidding of the LITFC as evidence showed that they were not allowed to bid in the final bidding exercise.”
While the committee recommended that the subsisting leases of the petitioners be restored, it directed that “the toll-gates now managed by Aulic should be dismantled forthwith as the petitioners and their customers/visitors are entitled to free and uninhibited access to their leased properties.”
It further recommended that any concessioning arrangement must first pay attention to the interest of all parties, define the role of the Lagos State Government and “determine the management structure of LITFC to secure the interest of the Federal Government during the period of the concession until the property reverts to the federal government.”
BPE and Aulic were also asked to “obey the subsisting order of court of competent jurisdiction which enjoins them not to sell, dispose and interfere whatsoever with the various lease agreements made between the petitioners and the LITFC board until such is vacated and quashed on appeal.”
