‘Unauthorised govt agencies sit on PAN board‘

Gbola Subair, Abuja - 28.06.2009

The board of Peugeot Automobile of Nigeria (PAN) is now saddled with unauthorised government agencies.

The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Privatization and Commercialization, Alhaji Ahmed Njiddah Gella, disclosed this when members of the House of Representatives Committee on Privatization and Commercialization paid an oversight visit to the company.

To ensure that those on the board of PAN are authentic nominees, Alhaji Gella directed the management of Peugeot Automobile Nigeria (PAN) Limited to deal only with the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) as the recognised government representative on its board.

Gella, who expressed concern over attempts by other government agencies to sit on the board of PAN when it is the statutory responsibility of the BPE disclosed that it was illegal for any body not appointed to sit on the PAN’s board to sit on it.

He told the company’s management to “henceforth draw the attention of BPE to any correspondence from any of the agency purporting to be government representative on the board,” adding that such act would no longer be tolerated.

The committee chairman also tasked BPE to immediately convene a meeting of relevant stakeholders so that all thorny issues would be addressed.