Tuesday, 11 May 2021: The minority caucus of the House of Representatives has asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), to investigate Hadiza Bala Usman, the suspended managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, (NPA).

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday approved the suspension of Usman following a recommendation by Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation.

He also directed Amaechi to set up an administrative panel of inquiry to investigate the management of the NPA. On Monday, Amaechi inaugurated the panel.

In a statement issued on Monday and signed by Ndudi Elumelu, minority leader of the lower chamber, the caucus demanded a full-scale probe of the NPA management.

The lawmakers said an administrative panel would not carry out a thorough investigation into the matter.

Amaechi had while inaugurating an 11-member investigative panel directed it to probe the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) over all contracts awarded since 2016 when Hadiza Bala Usman became managing director.

President Buhari who suspended Bala Usman as managing director of NPA, approved the setting up of a panel of inquiry based on Amaechi’s recommendation.

Recall that Bala Usman had while denying the allegation of non- remittance, insisted that the purported failure of the NPA to remit an outstanding balance of N165.32 billion from 2017 to 2018 was a misrepresentation of facts.

She said that contrary to the figures given by the budget office as outstanding operating surplus, the NPA had remitted all that was due to the consolidated revenue fund (CFR)— as stipulated in the fiscal responsibility act of 2007.

Only Bala Usman, who had been having a cold battle with Amaechi, was asked to step aside, effectively suggesting that she, and not the management, is the target of the investigation.
She was nominated as NPA MD in 2016 by Amaechi.  At the time, she was serving as the chief of staff to the Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna state.
 
Amaechi tasked the members of the panel to accurately examine procurement processes in the NPA from 2016 to date.

The terms of reference of the panel include examining and investigating the administrative policies and strategies adopted by the managing director of NPA and confirming compliance with extant laws and rules from 2016 to date.
 
“Examine and investigate issues leading to the termination of pilotage and other contracts of Nigerian Ports Authority and confirm compliance with the terms of the respective contracts, court rulings and presidential directives,” the transportation minister added.
 
“Examine and investigate compliance with the communication channel as obtained in the public service.
 
“Examine and investigate the procurement of contracts from 2016 to date. Come up with suggestions and advice that would strengthen the operations of Nigerian Ports Authority and forestall such occurrences in future.”

The panel, which is headed by Auwal Suleiman, director of maritime services, transportation ministry, has six members from the office of the head of the civil service of the federation (OHCSF) and the remaining five from the ministry of transportation.

“The Minority Caucus in the House of Representatives is alarmed by the alleged looting of over N165 billion operating surplus as well as other diverted funds running into billions of naira, by top officials of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA),” the statement read.

“Such huge economic crime against the nation should not be left to an administrative panel of enquiry, but committed to an anti-graft agency for independent investigation.

“Our Caucus holds that the mere suspension of the indicted Managing Director of the NPA, Hadiza Bala Usman, and the resort to an administrative panel of enquiry even after the report by the Supervising Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, exposed an unremitted and possibly diverted operating surplus of N165 billion, amounts romancing and perfuming corruption by the APC-led Federal Government.

“The Minority Caucus also believes that the recourse to an administrative instead of a full-scale criminal investigation can only serve as decoy to shield some other APC government officials involved in the looting spree at NPA and other affiliated agencies in the transport sector.
 
“This is because, apart from the unremitted N165 billion cited by the Minister, other documents and reports from the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation had also uncovered several sleaze, including unremitted deduction to Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) amounting to N3,667,750,470. $148,845,745.04, Euro 4,891,449.50 and £252,682.14.
 
“This is in addition to audit query of N15.18 billion allegedly stolen through inflated Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects/programmes under the watch of the suspended NPA Managing Director.”

The lawmakers said the alleged misappropriated funds in NPA would have been used to tackle the rising insecurity in the country.
 
They urged the anti-graft agency to take a drastic step to “recover the stolen funds as well as prosecute all involved in the looting spree.”