By Ismail Isa Abuja
Th ere are indications that the passage of the 2017 budget estimates of the Nigerian Ports Authority before the National Assembly may have been stalled by confl ict of interest within some members of the Senate Joint Committee on Customs, Excise & Tariff and Marine Transport, headed by Senator Hope Uzodinma. Sources close to the National Assembly revealed that the chairman of the joint investigative committee on the alleged 282 missing vessels, Senator Uzodima is believed to be lobbying members of the Standing Committee on Marine Transport (which oversights NPA) before which the 2017 is laid.
Th e NPA, had in April 2017, presented an estimate of N234 billion Naira as its budget for the 2017 fi scal year for approval by the legislature. But our fi ndings revealed that there are spirited eff orts to ‘insert’ the sum of N25 billion in the agency’s budget before passing it into law. Th e sum, it was further gathered, is the claims for works allegedly done by Messrs Niger-Global Engineering and Technical Company Limited in respect of the Joint Venture Contract it entered into with the NPA in 2015. Specifi cally, the company was awarded the Capital Maintenance Dredging Contract of the Calabar Channel valued at N26 billion Naira. Th e development is said to have pitched Senator Uzodinma against the Managing Director of the NPA, Hadiza Bala Usman, who, according to our sources, is bent on having the budget passed without the N25 billion Naira new line items. Our investigations also revealed that the delay in the passage of the NPA budget, may not be unconnected with the refusal by the Usma-led NPA management to pay the over $22 million being sought by the company.
Documents obtained in the course of our investigations, showed that Uzodinma owns substantial interest in NigerGlobal Engineering and Technical Company Limited. In a letter to the Managing Director of the NPA by Martin Aguda & CO, a law fi rm representing the interest of Niger-Global Engineering and Technical Company Limited, the company is demanding the payment of the sum of $22, 065, 998.21 dollars in respect of the Calabar Ports Dredging Contract. Th e company, it was further gathered, admitted receiving the sum of $12.5 million from the agency in 2015 without certifi cate of completion, a crucial requirement for compensation, in line with the Public Procurement Act.
Th e NPA had in the past expressed reservations about the Joint Venture contract with Niger-Global Engineering and Technical Company Limited with successive management board refusing to accede to demands for payment by the company, and the current NPA board has also refused to accept liabilities in respect of the said agreements worth over N26 billion Naira.
Th e Bureau of Public Procurement (BPE) had on March 3rd, 2015 directed the then Managing Director of the NPA “to put on hold all matters relating to the Capital and Maintenance Dredging of Calabar Channel” until the matter was “discussed with the President”. Subsequently, in a memo to former President Goodluck Jonathan in May 2015, the BPP drew the attention of the president to the unlawful practices that saw to the emergence of Niger-Global Engineering and Technical Company Limited as the preferred bidder for the contract for the dredging activity at the time the company and its JV partners, were said to have no legal personality to be so qualifi ed.
“Th e battle line now appears to have been drawn between the NPA management and the lawmaker, who is being alleged to have now usurped the powers of the Senate Committee on Marine Transport chaired by Ahmed Sanni Yerima, a move said to have angered Senator Yerima,” our source further said. Watchers of the National Assembly politics are wondering why the Senate President Bukola Saraki, “who is no stranger to the controversies of the Joint Venture contract between the NPA and Niger-Global Engineering and Technical Company Limited decided, in his wisdom to appoint Uzodinma as chairman of the Joint Committee on Customs, Excise & Tariff and Maritime Transport, in what is seen as clear breach of ethics and privileges of members of the National Assembly and a case of confl ict of interest, given Senator Uzodinma’s interest in Niger-Global Engineering and Technical Company Limited.” Th e Senate Joint committee, had had on the 17th of July, 2017, held a public hearing where it accused the NPA of “failing to provide records of 282 vessels that berthed in its terminals between 2010 and 2016.”
But the NPA in a swift reaction to the allegation which was conveyed vide a letter from its Managing Director on the 26th of July, 2017, contended that the allegation by the committee was not based on verifi able evidence, stating that there were no names of vessels; no dates of arrival; no rotation numbers and registration dates in respect of the vessels as required to enable the NPA investigate the matter.
However, after reviewing documents provided by the Committee, the agency discovered that: “of the 29 items handed over to the NPA on July 20, 2017, only fi ve vessels were identifi able. NPA maintained that it discovered that the other 24 items are repetitions of the fi ve vessels that were identifi ed. A report to this eff ect, with relevant supporting documents evidencing payment of all charges for the fi ve vessels, is said to have been forwarded to the Senate Committee by the NPA as requested. Reaction Although, eff orts by our correspondents to get Senator Uzodinma’s reaction were unsuccessful as he was said to have been out of the country. However, a committee source who asked not to be quoted, told our reporter that the Senate activities should not be personalised. “I am not speaking for Senator Uzodinma, but let us not personalise the committee’s oversight function. What is paramount is that cases should be treated on their merit. Th e NPA should come up with verifi able facts, then we can progress as a nation,” added the source.
