From Judex Okoro, Calabar
The House of Representatives is to sanction corrupt public officers and corporate bodies misusing national assets.
Its Chairman Ad Hoc Committee Investigating Governing Lease of Federal Government Owned Assets and Review of Port Concession Agreement,Daniel Asuquo, stated this after a meeting with managers of Calabar Port and other terminal operators.
The lawmaker said it was high time public officers entrusted with national assets managed them well and live up to expectations by making returns on investments, especially at a time the government was in dire need of finances to run the country.
He decried the state of some national assets, saying what the committee saw at the Lagos, Port Harcourt and Calabar ports does not depict the humongous investments by the Federal Government in the assets.
“Let me put it on record that this particular committee will make sure that public servants who have deliberately or intentionally colluded to give out our assets for nothing or allowed lapses in the drafting of those agreements, which we have seen loopholes, will be recommended to the appropriate quarters for sanction.
“Corporate bodies and people who have also capitalised on those loopholes will also be sent to sanctioning agencies like the EFCC to bring them to book. We have always said it that Nigeria has become a place where people just break and share, there is no nationalistic interest to build this nation for the future.”