…Private Port Operators responsible for
$852.93m, N1.8bn unremittances – NPA MD explains
OSAS EMMANUEL
ABUJA, Nigeria – In an effort to clear the Nigerian Port Authority ( NPA), from alleged unremittance of over $852million and N1.8billion, the Managing Director of the Authority, Mohammed Bello Koko, has blamed the financial indiscipline on private ports operators in the country.
Recall that the Office of Auditor General for the Federation had in the 2019 audit report, alleged that NPA did not collect remittances from terminal operators, which amounted to $852million and N1.8billion.
Investigating the query, the Senate Committee on Public Accounts on Tuesday mandated the Managing Director to appear before it unfailingly within 48hours to answer queries raised in the report.
Responding to the summon, Bello Koko led other management staff of NPA before the Committee on Thursday, where he tried to absolve the Authority from allegations raised.
According to the Managing Director, the lump sums of $852million and N1.8billion, raised in the queries, were an accumulation of unremittances from private port operators who came on board through a 2006 concession agreement.
He hinged the infraction on faulty concession agreements signed with the private operators by the Federal Government in 2006, which he said, largely accounted for the unremittances NPA is being held responsible for today.
“The $852milliion and N1.8billion unremittance by private operators to NPA, are largely caused by faulty concession agreements the Federal Government signed with them in 2006 when the ports were concessioned.
“The concession agreements were faulty in the sense that some of the operators are facing encumberances in different ways to cover the space concessioned for them, which also encumbered them to remit what are due from them to NPA.
“The encumbrances in question range from inaccessibility of some portions of areas leased, by concessionaire, communal encumbrances and volume change or tonnage amount.”
He pointedly told the committee members that federal government that signed the concession agreement with the private operators, even contributed to encumbrances faced by the concessionaires at the beginning by not removing structures that belong to it from the right of way of the affected concessionaires.
“Out of the $852million, going by our in-house assessment, $504million are accumulated unremitted levies due to encumbered areas.
“However, we have been able to $232.2million and N269.4million from the N1.8billiion.
“We have gotten consultancy from the World Bank for review of the concession agreements which would be free from any form of encumbrances,” he added.
Answering the second query of outstanding debts of $67.45million and N32.266billion , the NPA boss told the committee members that the debts were not incurred by NPA but the defunct Nigerian Shippers Councils whose debtors are no longer traceable.
The Chairman of the Committee , Senator Aliyu Wadada in his remarks , told the NPA boss to furnish the committee with their financial statement and way out for government to write off the legacy debts.
