Buhari appoints Bello-Koko substantive NPA’s Managing Director

By Seun Ibiyemi

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday comfirms the appointment of Mohammed Bello-Koko as the substantive managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).

In a press statement by the director of press and PR, Federal Ministry of Transportation, Eric Ojiekwe and a copy made available to Nigerian NewsDirect,  the employment takes immediate effect.

According to the statement, “The President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, has approved the appointment of Mr. Mohammed Bello-Koko as the substantive Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority.

“Prior to this appointment, Mr. Koko was the Executive Director, Finance and Administration of the Authority. This appointment takes immediate effect.”

Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari on May 6, 2021 approved the suspension of Hadiza Bala Usman as the Managing Director of NPA.

The suspension followed a recommendation by Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Transportation, to set up an administrative panel of inquiry to investigate the management of the NPA.

Explaining the reason for the suspension of Bala Usman, Amaechi noted that under Bala Usman’s leadership, the ministry of transportation was completely shut out.

He said, “Nothing really happened… Part of the responsibility of minister of transportation from time to time is to give general instructions as it affects parastatals that are under the ministry of transport and give general directions where you think the parastatals should head to.

“Bello Koko has been in acting capacity since the suspension of Hadiza Bala Usman last year.

“With NPA, I think it was just completely shut out and we didn’t know what was going on in the parastatal and we wanted to know.

“We sought the approval of the President to carry out an investigation and he approved, and we also sought for the approval of the president to ask the managing director of NPA to step aside so that she would not interfere with the process of investigation.”