Senate Committee on Trade and Investment on Monday unraveled illegal funding of privately owned company as a Special Economic Zone Company listed for N42billion appropriation from the 2019 budget proposals.
This was revealed when the Federal Ministry of Industry , Trade and Investment came to defend the 2019 budget proposal of the Ministry.
Troubled started when the Chairman of the Committee, Mohammed Sabo called the attention of the Minister of Trade and Investment to the funding of the private owned company through the an agency not recognised in the law by the Committee.
But, the Minister in his response said the Company was established through Presidential initiative and approval given it at Cabinet meeting in May 2018 .
He said : “One of the areas that this government has focused on is infrastructure. The second area is industrialization and the two have something in common.
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” If the government tries to do it alone, it would be extremely tasking. So the President directed that we should bring other partners that can combine with whatever monies we have to build world class infrastructure which led to the establishment of the company in partnership with other investors ”
But when asked to explain the owners of the company , the minister said the federal government and other shareholders to which the committee chairman proved him wrong .
The Company name is Nigeria Sez Investment Company Limited and not Nigeria Special Economic Zone Company listed the documents presented by the Minister .
