Usman refutes claim of singlehandedly awarding contracts; PDP demands sack of Amaechi, Usman over NPA saga

Suspended managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala Usman says media reports claiming she solely awarded ports contract during her tenure is irresponsible and mischievous.

Ms Usman stated this in a statement she personally signed on Sunday in which she staunchly denied claims that she’s involved in a “clandestine ploy to short-change a company” in favour of Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote.

According to Usman, the NPA has an executive management team, which always considers and takes business decisions on all assets of the NPA in the best interest of the country.

“To claim that I singlehandedly awarded a contract in my capacity as Managing Director, is, therefore, irresponsible, mischievous, and defamatory,” she said in the statement.
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“The report also mischievously lumped the now expired service boat contract between the NPA and the Integrated Logistics Services’ (INTELs), which took off in 2007 with a review of a ten-year extension in 2011 to culminate in expiration in August 2020 with the lease under discussion.

“The service boat contract expired through the effluxion of time and the Authority initiated a procurement process in which INTELs participated in line with all extant laws.”

She also denied any involvement in a secret plan to short-change a company in favour of Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man.

“This report is false, without any foundation and a figment of some wild imagination of the news platform.

“I also note the insinuation of a non-existent monetary transfer between Alhaji Dangote and I during the 2015 elections. As I told People’s Gazette when I was approached about this story, no such transaction occurred.

“Having gone through the trouble to give this explanation, I demand that Sahara Reporters publish this rebuttal and give it the same measure of prominence given to the false story, which runs against all known ethics of journalism.

“In 2018, the Authority realised that INTELs had neither been making these payments for five years nor putting the berths to optimal use.

“The Authority then wrote INTELs to request for the payment of the arrears of monies that were unpaid and expand the utilisation of the facility.

“With the continued under-utilisation of the facility, the fact that there was no contractual agreement with INTELs from the outset and the urgent need to decongest the ports in Lagos, the Authority offered the berths to an internationally renowned container handling company, Messers International Container Terminal Nigerian Limited (ICTNL) for the use of the berths for container cargo discharging.

“ICTNL has signed a contract for the lease of the berths with the Authority and has commenced the installation of container handling equipment when INTELS instituted a court action challenging the withdrawal of the offer. That case is still in court!”

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) being privy of her testimony, is demanding the removal of the country’s transportation minister, Rotimi Amaechi, and the suspended Managing Director of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Usman, over unremitted funds.

The Nigerian leader Muhammadu Buhari had last week suspended Ms Usman following the advice of Mr Amaechi who’s accused the NPA under Ms Usman of not remitting enough money to Nigeria’s purse.

The PDP has faulted Mr. Amaechi’s suggestion, describing it as a ploy to cover up the scandal which she has already denied.

PDP’s spokesperson Kola Ologbondiyan in a statement insisted that both “the minister and the indicted NPA Managing Director should be handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for investigation and possible prosecution.”

“The party also asks the transport minister to come clean on his reported connection in the alleged involvement of his wife, Mrs. Edith Amaechi, in the exposed N48 billion contract scam currently rocking the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC),” the PDP said.

“This is in addition to reports from the office of Auditor General which also unearthed the looting of unremitted deduction to Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) amounting to N3,667,750,470. $148,845,745.04, Euro 4,891,449.50 and £252,682.14 under the suspended NPA Managing Director and Amaechi’s ministerial supervision.

“The audit report also exposed another N15.18 billion allegedly siphoned through shady Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects by the NPA, an agency under Amaechi’s ministerial purview.”