Olamilekan Okeowo
Despite the fact that the substantial sum of over $3bn has been expended into the dredging of the Lagos, Bonny and Calabar channels by the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA), , empirical facts, evidence and data including current Admiralty charts from Lloyds of London clearly confirm that depth profiles of the channels, particularly the Lagos and Bonny channels, remained significantly the same at 13 meters between 2005 and 2016, notwithstanding the purported claims of daily maintenance dredging of the channels by the firms handling the contracts.
NPA entered into Joint Ventures (JVc) deals with Despasa Marine International to form the Lagos Channel Management (LCM), The Channel Management Company (TCMC) to form Bonny Channel Company (BCC) and Niger Global Engineering and Technical Company Limited to form Calabar Channel Management Company (CCMC) under 60 to 40 percent arrangement holdings in favour of NPA.
Although these JVs are supposed to Public Private Partnership (PPP) conceived to reduce financial burdens on the Federal Government, the NPA has expended over $1bn and $2bn respectively on LCM and BCC from 2005 to date, while significant dredging is yet to commence on the Calabar channel notwithstanding that it is an economic gateway to the North Central and North East geopolitical zones.
This anomaly has made the Senate to mandate its Committee on Marine Transport to investigate the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) over the contracts
The committee chaired by Senator Ahmad Sani Yarima (APC, Zamfara) was given a week to carry out the probe following a motion sponsored by Senator Ovie A. Omo-Agege (APC, Delta) and five others.
Moving the motion, Omo- Agege said the NPA entered into Joint Ventures (JVc) with the arrangement that the LCM is to manage and maintain Lagos navigation channel, BCC is to see management and routine maintenance of dredging of Bonny River and the responsibility of CCMC was capital dredging of Calabar channel.
He expressed dismay that in continuation of NPA’s manifestly questionable and reckless financial commitments, LCM and BCM through the NPA, have respectively requested for the sums of N23bn and N20bn in the NPA’s 2017 budget.
“The NPA and the JVs (LCM, BCC and CCMC) are on the course of absolute financial impunity and recklessness to wreck the nation’s treasury and needs to be tamed now in our national interest, “he said.
In his remark, the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki said over $2bn has been spent on the dredging in the last 10 years.
“The Marine Transport committee should ensure that they work quickly. We cannot continue to put money into an avenue whereby money is being stolen, “he said.
