$165.3m unremitted fund: No time limit for Bala Usnan probe panel —Amaechi
…Block your ears to unnecessary noise – Saraki tells committee
…NPA, NDDC looting: PDP demands Amaechi, Hadiza sack
By Seun Ibiyemi
The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi has said that there is no time limit for Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) probe panel to investigate $165.3million unremitted fund during the administration of suspended Managing Director Hadiza Bala-Usman.
As a follow up, the Minister of state for transportation directed the committee members to block their ears to unnecessary noise that may arise during the probe.
Amaechi addressing the 11- man committee after their inauguration in Abuja on Monday said the investigation is part of the mandate of the ministry to oversee activities of its various parastatal agencies.
According to him, “This is the time to discharge our responsibility as a ministry and I don’t see why anybody is complaining.
“What is wrong in looking at what is happening in NPA? I don’t see what is wrong in that. As the Minister of Transportation for four years, I hardly know what is happening and I want to know now.
“The president agrees with me that it’s my responsibility as minister to find out what is going on. It worries me that people are saying we should not ask questions. Nobody has been indicted.
“It is just, can’t we know what is going on in NPA? That’s the question. If everything is right, why do we have to bother at the end of the day?
“When you have completed your assignment, we will be glad to pass on the report to the President, but don’t forget your assignment will include activities of procurement and its processes from 2016 till date.
“And that is why you do not have a time limit. So, it will take you some time. You are not auditing, but to find out the processes.
“Please be diligent, invite anybody you want to invite, including the minister, if there are infractions you need me to clarify,” he said.
He added that the committee’s terms of reference, include examining and investigating the administrative policies and strategies adopted by NPA’s Managing Director, Hadiza Usman, and confirm compliance with extant laws and rules from 2016 till date.
“Examine and investigate issues leading to the termination of other contracts of NPA and confirm compliance with the terms of the respective contracts, court ruling and presidential directives.
“Examine and investigate compliance with 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 NPA and forestall such occurrences in future. And any other matter that may be necessary in the course of the assignment,” the minister said.
According to Amaechi, NPA is an agency that manages maritime trading activities in Nigeria and should be able to get in a lot of resources for the government to run the country.
He thanked the committee for accepting to serve and also appreciated the Minister of State for Transport, Sen. Gbemisola Saraki, for her diligence on the matter.
The minister then reiterated that the public should allow the ministry do its job.
“Let us reduce the shouting and allow the committee to do their job. Then, we will come out with a report, which we will avail to the public after it is being passed to the President,” he said.
Similarly, the minister of state, described public reactions as surprising.She said the investigation was within the purview of the ministry.
“This is why the ministry supervises and part of that role is looking, asking questions and ensuring that things are done in due process.
“For the panel, there is so much noise, so it’s best you block your ears, keep your head down and do what is in the interest of the entire country,” Saraki said.
Responding, the Chairman of the committee, Mr Suleiman Auwalu, Director of Maritime Services of the ministry pledged the commitment of other members to diligently carry out the duties assigned to them.
Auwalu said: “I assure you that we are going to work; we are going to be honest and fair in the discharge of this responsibility.
“At the end of the day, we want to turn up a report that will be true and it will be in the interest of the country.
“So, we are seeking for God’s guidance for us to do the right thing at the right time.”
Buhari also approved that Usman stepped aside for the period of the investigation, while directing Mr Mohammed Koko to serve as the acting head of the authority.
In another development, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has demanded the immediate sack, investigation and prosecution of Minister of Transportation, as well as the suspended Managing Director of NPA, over exposed looting of over N165billions in the agency.
The party also asked the transport minister to come clean on his reported connection in the alleged involvement of his wife, Mrs. Edith Amaechi, in the exposed N48 billion contract scam currently rocking the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
“The foul stench of corruption oozing out of the NPA, NDDC and other agencies of government in the last six years has shown that our MDAs have become the cash cows and Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) of greedy leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and their cronies in government in their unbridled looting of our patrimony under President Muhammadu Buhari’s watch.
“Our party asserts that the fact that it took the minister a clear six years (2016 to 2021) to query the NPA Managing Director over the alleged looting of N165 billion unremitted operating surplus of the agency, which is under his purview, is suspect and raises public belief that he (Amaechi) only acted apparently to shied himself after indicting audit documents had already been exposed.
“This is in addition to reports from the office of Auditor General which also unearthed the looting of 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 under the suspended NPA Managing Director and Amaechi’s ministerial supervision.
“The audit report also exposed another N15.18 billion allegedly siphoned through shady Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects by the NPA, an agency under Amaechi’s ministerial purview.
“The PDP therefore rejects the obvious attempt at a coverup in the recourse to an Administrative Panel of Enquiry recommended by the Transport Minister to investigate the NPA fraud, in which he also has some questions to answer.
“Our party insists that both the minister and the indicted NPA Managing Director should be handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for investigation and possible prosecution.
“Moreover, Nigerians are appalled that fingers of fraud allegation are also pointing to the wife of the Transport Minister in a N48 billion contract scam under the sacked NDDC’s Managing Director, Nelson Bambraifa, who was reportedly nominated into that position by the minister of transportation, Amaechi, but fired on allegations of corruption.
“The PDP describes as unpardonable that the humongous sum in the NDDC contract scam involving the wife of the transport minister was allegedly siphoned under the guise of offering training to unsuspecting youths in the area.
“It is indeed disgraceful that under the APC that promised to fight and end corruption in our country, the public space is awash with revelations of sharing of government revenues among concubines, wives, girlfriends and family members of top APC leaders. This can only happen under the watch of an absentee president, who also condone corruption.
