President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the suspension of the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mrs. Hadiza Bala Usman.
Explaining the decision, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, Mallam Garba Shehu, in a statement, stated that Usman was suspended because of an investigation being carried out on some activities taking place in the NPA.
However, according to reports, Usman was specifically suspended over allegations of looting the NPA yearly remittance operating surplus to the tune of N165billion.
A document obtained by an online medium, revealed that Minister of Transportation, Mr Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi played a significant role in uncovering the alleged looting of N165billion by the MD/CEO of the NPA.
The NPA is a government-owned enterprise which is under the Federal Ministry of Transportation.
According to the document, Amaechi had written a memo addressed to Buhari, seeking his approval to demand for the audit of the yearly remittance and account of the NPA between 2016-2020.
The NPA was said to have been far short of the amount due for actual remittance between 2016-2020, which accounted for an outstanding unremitted N165 billion.
The memo partly reads, “It has been observed from the records submitted by the Budget Office of the Federation that the yearly remittance of operating surpluses by the Nigerian Ports Authority from year 2016 -2020 has been far short of the amount due for actual remittance.
“In view of the above i wish to suggest that the financial account of the activities of Nigerian Ports Authority be investigated for the period 2016 to 2020 to ascertain the true financial position and the outstanding unremitted balance of One hundred and sixty five billion, three hundred and twenty million, nine hundred and sixty two thousand, six hundred and ninety seven naira only (N165,320,962,697}.”
The Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim A. Gambari, had in a memo to the Minister of Transportation, conveyed the approval of Buhari to demand for the audit of the accounts of the NPA.
Following the nod given by the president, the Minister in a follow up memo addressed to the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation demanded for the investigation of the account of the NPA between 2016 to 2020.
The Minister had also suggested that the audit of the NPA be carried out by five professional Audit firms in Nigeria which include; KPMG NIGERIA; DELOITTE NIGERIA; PRICE WATER HOUSE COOPERS INC (PWC) NIGERIA; ERNEST AND YOUNG (EY) NIGERIA; MCKINSEY AND COMPANY NIGERIA.
However, in response to a request, the Auditor-General of the Federation, Aghughu Adolphus stated that it’s not within the powers of the Minister to authorise the Auditor-General to audit the accounts of the NPA as stated in the section 85 of the constitution of the federal Republic of Nigeria.
The Auditor-General also noted that the said Audit accounts of the NPA for the year ended 2016, 2017, 2018 respectively have been duly approved following the reports of some External Audit Firms- Messrs Muhtari Dangana & Co. (Chartered Accountants) and SIAO Chartered Accountants.
Speaking further, Adolphus stated that there was no justification for the minister’s action to appoint audit firms to conduct the exercise as it has already been completed and duly approved.
The memo with the reference number FMOT/F&A/AUGF/2017/4/1/T dated 6″ April, 2021, partly reads, “The Board shall cause to be kept proper accounts of the Authority and proper records, in relation thereto and when certified by the Board, the accounts shall be audited by auditors appointed by the Authority from the list and in accordance with the guidelines supplied by the Auditor-General for the Federation’. (See subparagraph 2 of paragraph 20 of NPA Act).
“Nothing in Sub-section (2) of this Section shall be construed as authorising the Auditor-General to audit the accounts of or appoint auditors for government statutory corporations, commissions authorities, agencies, including all persons and bodies established by an Act of the National Assembly, but the AuditorGeneral shall: (a) provide such bodies with: (i) a list of auditors qualified to be appointed by them as external auditors and from which the bodies shall appoint their external auditors.
“The NPA Board has duly engaged the External Audit firms — Messrs Muhtari Dangana & Co. (Chartered Accountants) and SIAO Chartered Accountants. The said Audit firms audited and published the audited accounts of NPA duly approved by the Board for the years ended: 31th December, 2016, 31 December, 2017 and 31″‘ December, 2018 respectively.
“The audit of 2019 by Messrs. Muhtari Dangana & Co. (Chartered Accountants) and SIAO Chartered Accountants is on-going, awaiting NPA Board’s approval to be published.
“Also, my Office has conducted periodic checks for the years 2016 — 2018, and issued Periodic Checks Reports along with comments on their annual accounts and auditor’s reports thereon, and reputable Professional Audit firms are already being engaged by the Board in line with the enabling Act. Hence no justification for the Ministry “to advertise and select qualified Audit firms to conduct the exercise.”
However, it seems the Minister has outmuscled the Auditor-General following the recent suspension of Usman as the MD/CEO of the NPA.
The President has also approved the recommendation of the Ministry of Transportation to set up an Administrative panel of Inquiry to investigate the management of the NPA.
