Audit Query: NPA Blames Private Ports Operators for Unremitted $852m, N1.8bn

*Seeks Senate nod to write-off bad debts

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The leadership of the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) appeared  before the Senate  Public Accounts Committee yesterday to defend the query of the Auditor General for the Federation(AuGF) which indicted it of not remitting $852 million and N1.8 billion to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).
The Office of the Auditor General for the Federation had in the 2019 audit report said the NPA did not collect remittances from terminal operators  which amounted to $852 million and N1.8 billion.

The Senate Committee on Public Accounts , on the strength of the  audit queries against NPA had on Tuesday given its Managing Director , Bello Koko  and other management staff , to appear before it unfailingly within 48 hours .

In response to the committee’s directive , the NPA MD led his team to the red chamber to defend the queries.
Koko explained to the committee that the lump sums of $852 million and N1.8 billion raised in the queries, were accumulation of non-remittances  from  private port operators who came on board through 2006 concession agreement.

He explained that the faulty concession agreements signed with the private operators by the federal government in 2006 , largely accounted for the non-remittances NPA was being held responsible for by the AuGF.

Koko said: “The $852 million and  N1.8 billion unremitted funds by the private operators to NPA was largely caused by faulty concession agreements the federal government signed with them in 2006 when the ports  were in concession.

“The concession agreements were faulty in the sense that some of the operators are facing encumbrances in different ways to  cover the space they had concession 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  told the committee that the federal government that signed the concession agreement with the private operators , even contributed to the 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 $852 million , going by our in-house assessment, $504 million was accumulated unremitted levies due to encumbered areas .
“However, we have been able to remit $232.2 million  and N269.4 million from the N1.8 billion .

“We have got consultancy from the World Bank for review of the concession agreements which would be free from any form of encumbrances,” he added .
On the second query of outstanding debts of $67.45 million and N32.266 billion , 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, asked the NPA boss to furnish the committee with their financial statement and way out for government to write off the legacy debts.