The House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on Failed Rail Contracts, yesterday, discovered 169 ghost companies that registered as contractors with the Nigeria Railway Corporation, NRC, for projects valued at N1 trillion.
The ad hoc committee raised the alarm during the investigative hearing at the National Assembly complex, Abuja that none of the 169 companies invited by the committee had shown up.
Chairman of the committee, Johnson Agbonnayinman, (Ikpoba/Okha federal constituency), lamented that efforts to reach the companies invilved in the failed rail contract had so far proven fruitless.
He added that so far, only the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, CCECC, responded to the committee’s letter.
Challaenging the NRC, Agbonnayinman said: “You are duty bound to produce the contractors. They are nowhere to be found; they are not faceless but yet they cannot be reached.
“You gave them the job, so you should produce them; we are holding you responsible.” he insisted.