The Senator Ahmed Wadada Aliyu – led Senate Committee on Public Account has not only declared management of Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) wanton but also ordered Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to remit the sum of N62.2 billion naira to the federation account.
The Committee addressed journalists briefly through its chairman after the committee members sat with the agencies Tuesday.
Addressing the press, the Committee informed that reports of the Auditor General of the Federation (AGF) shouldn’t be seen as a punishment or an attempt to witch-hunt anybody, but a constitutional requirement in promoting accountability and transparency while managing public agency.
Explaining how and why they found the NPA wanton, the committee chairman said: “The NPA has been found wanton on the AGF’s annual report and also erred on the status enquiry. Some issues arose in the Boney, Calabar and Lagos Channels Management.”
The committee further informed that to look into the issues, it has respectfully written the NPA management, but regretted that some of the communications were responded to, while some weren’t responded to. The committee however added that except for the general manager who came very late, using medication as an excuse, when the Committee had called them severally, none of the management officers, according to it cared to come to respond to the report of the AGF.
He noted with concern that there were also issues of other indebtedness arising from shipping dues, among others amounting to about $68 million. The committee also said that the mentioned sums of money weren’t a part of the anomalies in the Boney, Calabar and Lagos Channels Management. The Committee therefore gave 48 hours to the management NPA to appear before or face the wrath of the law
In the same vein, based on what the Committee saw as financial irregularities in the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), it ordered the agency to remit about N64 billion to the federation account. The committee went further to say that the amount the NCS should remit was among others, a result of under remittance of revenue to the federation account.
However, the committee accepted the NCS request that they come on December 19th, 2023 to continue their lawful duties, even as it ordered that the NCS’s CG appear before the Committee on the agreed date.
