Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar and his counterpart in the Ministry of Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, have been accused of working at cross purposes with the economic aspirations of the President Goodluck Jonathan administration.
A newspaper investigation published yesterday claimed that both Ministers have been actively promoting the coercive monopoly of Intels Nigeria Limited to the detriment of other investors and the need for accelerated job creation and investment growth within the country’s economic space.
“This much was also contained in an open letter addressed to President Jonathan by a Port Harcourt-based group calling itself the Coalition 4beta9ja, signed by its co-ordinator, Mr. Fubara S. Ipalibo.
“The Coalition recalled that in 2005 a Committee was set up to investigate several complaints and petitions received from port users and other operators against Intels and the committee recommended the following, among others; the proximity of the management of Intels to the political class should be re-examined and curtailed to check its abuse; NPA should ensure that cargo owners are free to patronize any truck of their choice for the freight of cargo discharged into Oil and Gas Free Zone, and in addition, importers of oil and gas cargo should be free to choose their port of preference; and the ministry of Transport should fine-tune its regulatory and oversight functions to ensure that companies conform to rules and regulations in the country,” the newspaper report stated.
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