Minister of the Federal Capital Territory,(FCT), Bala Mohammed, may have engaged an unregistered transport company, Shaaxni Nigeria Limited , as concessionaire, to provide transport services in the territory, with a bank guarantee to the tune of N1 BillionThe minister , Senate President, David Mark, and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu have substantial interests in Shaaxni, top sources at the FCT revealed to Pointblanknews.com. Former aide, and crony to the deputy senate president, Jonathan Ivoke Achara, heads the transport secretariat, while Mark’s daughter, Blessing Onuh who is head of the social development unit, keeps an eye on daddy’s interest in the FCTA.

The duo also has interests in Print Field Limited Limited, City Cab Limited, and Abuja Cooperative transport Services. These companies are all concessionaires for the FCT.

Shaaxni, which has 50 buses at N19 million per unit on ground, is one of the four companies contracted to provide transport services in the FCT under a new 5-year agreement effective March 31, 2011.

The FCT administration, as part of the deal, hurriedly signed in December 2010, will provide bank guarantees, land, import waiver, infrastructure, etc.

Similar agreement was signed in 2005, by former minister, Nasir El- Rufai with three companies: Sonic- Global Resources, Nationwide Transport Company and the Abuja Urban Mass Transit Company (AUMTCO) (owned by the FCT administration), with the same promise of infrastructure, enabling environment, land but without a bank guarantee .

Pointblanknews checks at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), in Abuja revealed that the name of Shaaxni that hit the FCT jackpot, was not registered. Further checks showed that request for the business name, Shaaxni Nigeria Limited by another group, different from the new FCT concessionaire, was given approval on March 11, 2011 and reserved for 60 days, till (9/5/2011), with the serial number 3674208, and approved by Samuel Iyapo, an official of CAC.

Sources also hinted that there was no tender process in selecting the concessionaires except some advertisement placements in the newspapers which were designed to create the impression due process was followed.

It was learnt that when the FCT minister realized some of the legitimate concessionaires, may have gotten wind of the bogus agreement with Shaaxni , and was about to take legal action, he mandated some of his officials, last week, to go to the CAC and quickly make Shaaxni a legitimate entity. The delegation was led by the deputy director, mass transit, Engr Wilson Nwogu, accompanied by staff of the legal services departmentBut when the FCT officials got to the CAC they realized the name Shaaxni had already been taken and reserved. In desperation they switched from Shaaxni Nigeria Limited to Shaaxni Auto Limited, but to their chagrin, that also had been taken. So, as at the time of writing this report , the Shaaxni that signed the agreement with the FCT, remains statutorily an illegitimate business entity.

An official of the ministry who spoke on the condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak on the matter, however argued that “newspaper advertisements were placed calling for tenders. It was bided for and those companies won the bidding. The companies that won had papers from the Corporate Affairs Commission”.

Sonic- Global Resources Nigeria Limited, one of the former concessionaires, had also approached a Federal High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja, seeking an order restraining the FCTA authorities from engaging new concessionaires on the ground that the FCTAdefaulted in the concession agreement reached with it.

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