We're Not Losing Sleep Over Allegations, Says NPA MD, Hadiza Bala Usman
Indications are rife that the management of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) is currently losing sleep over allegations by the Senate that 282 vessels are missing at Nigerian ports. This is even as the agency denied such allegations, saying its MD is not losing sleep over such claim.
According to sources close to the agency, the NPA Managing Director, Hadiza Bala Usman is particularly disturbed about the missing vessels allegations because it was said to have happened under her administration despite her stance on corrupt practises at the ports.
She is worried that the lawmakers said it happened right under her nose as MD, NPA. If it had been an allegation that happened under previous NPA management, she would have simply swooped on it for proper investigation.
“But to have happened under her is disturbing. The MD has summoned all port managers and everybody that has anything to do with cargo clearance at the ports to ensure nobody is sabotaging her works.
“There are fears that even though the agency has standard technological equipment to monitor vessel movements like the Tracking System and its Command and Control and Communication System, there could be a case of sabotage within the agency’s rank and file,” our source stated.
When contacted, the NPA’s Principal Manager, Public Affairs, Ibrahim Nasiru explained that the Hadiza Bala Usman led management is currently not losing sleep over the allegations because it is very obvious that it cannot be true.
According to Nasiru, who currently acts as the agency’s Spokesman, “How can they say 282 vessels just disappeared at our ports? Is that possible at this age? With all the technology we have at the ports?
“These are just mere allegations, until they prove it, we consider such as mere allegations. With the technology system that we currently have at hand; our Tracking system, our Command and Control and Communication System; how can vessels just disappear like that? It’s just a subject of controversy.
“The MD is not having any sleepless nights. Everybody is sleeping like babies. The people that are insinuating let them come and prove that vessels disappeared from our ports.”
It would be recalled that the Senate’s Joint Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff and Marine Transport had given the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) four days to explain the whereabouts of over 282 vessels whose contents were said to be unaccounted for.
The committee’s Chairman, Hope Uzodinma, gave the ultimatum in Abuja, at an investigative hearing on N30 trillion alleged lost through leakages in Customs and other agencies.
Uzodinma expressed displeasure with Hadiza Bala Usman, Managing Director of NPA for not honouring the committee’s two previous invitations, saying information on the vessels was imperative and must be made available within four days.
He threatened that the senate may be compelled to pursue a financial crime case against Usman should she fail to heed the committee’s directive.
“We are looking for these vessels. We have the dates of arrival, the ports of discharge and manifest. Everything is with us but in information available to us, no money was collected by Customs, the NPA or any other person.
“So you have four days to do your written explanation otherwise, we will consider it a financial crime,” he said.
According to Uzodinma, there are also recent cases of missing vessels that have been discovered.
“I mean recent ones that happened under the new management. The NPA is the custodian of the vessels; it received the cargoes and the terminal is theirs.”
“We want to know under whose authority the cargoes were released,” the committee chairman said.
The lawmaker said that the committee had also uncovered the activities of a port cabal that had defrauded the nation to the tune of over N30 trillion.
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