*Fingered in corporate governance misdemeanor
*Koko’s alleged unclean hands
The last has not been heard about the embattled suspended Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) who was asked to step aside by President Muhammadu Buhari for alleged corrupt practices and probe, and replaced with the Authority’s Executive Director, Finance, Mr Mohammed Koko, on acting capacity.
According to an online platform, Per Second News (PSN), Bala-Usman, has been accused of corruption and abuse of office, adding that investigation has revealed how the Agency’s spending under Hadiza kepts rising.
The fraud which runs into billions of naira was uncovered by an ‘audit query’ of activities of the NPA between 2016 and 2018, Per Second News gathered.
The Auditor General’s Office concluded, however, that the NPA’s financial records were riddled with so many bookkeeping deficiencies, irregularities, and errors that a reliable audit was simply impossible, PSN reported.
The office of the Auditor-General of the Federation also came hard on the NPA boss for gross “betrayal of public trust” as demonstrated by her flagrant abuse for due process in the way and manner she runs the agency, citing documents obtained by this newspaper.
Highlights of the damning report from the office of the Auditor General of the Federation include her refusal to remit VAT deductions running into billions of naira and in foreign currency denomination to the Federal Inland Revenue Service.
For instance, the query highlighted unremitted deduction to Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to include N3,667,750,470; $148,845,745.04; Euro 4,891,449.50 and £252,682.14.
The NPA under Hadiza Bala Usman was also accused of “excessive increase in administrative operational expenses; extra budgetary expenditures on hotel accommodation and under-disclosure of expenditures on hotel expenses; Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects; diversion of funds through the Nigerian Port Today, to the sponsorship of National Assembly Programmes, among others.
The queries which covered over 100 issues, also asked Hadiza Bala-Usman to make various refunds to government, especially in instances where such expenditures could not be justified.
Investigation also revealed that the Audit team reviewed NPA’s policy on implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility Projects/Programmes and discovered that records relating to CSR fell short of the level of compliance with the Public Procurement Act 2007.
In 2016, the NPA spent N286,412,628.00 on CSR, while in 2017, the figure rose to N2,496,248,775.00 and N5billion in 2018. The Audit team found out that “beneficiary needs were not properly assessed or identified before the implementation of CSR projects/programmes.
The Audit team observed to its chagrin that there was no evidence of compliance with Public Procurement Act and that most of the CSR projects/programmes costs were inflated and accordingly ordered that the “sum of N5.18 billion should be recovered from the erstwhile Managing Director of NPA, being the value of inflated amount under her watch.
The committee also observed that delivery of CSR items were not accompanied with delivery letters and that in most cases, there was no evidence of actual items delivered and who signed for them.
Per Second News said the NPA boss and accountants have been perpetrating a gigantic, unconstitutional accounting fraud, deliberately cooking the books to mislead the government and drive the NPA’s budgets ever higher, regardless of port necessity.
The NPA has literally been making up numbers in its annual financial reports to the National Assembly – representing billions of dollars’ worth of seemingly nonexistent transactions – knowing that the National Assembly would rely on those misleading reports when deciding how much money to give the Authority.
The report noted for instance, while a contract with Ref. HQ/GM/PROC/CON/C.11/PBT/16/322 dated 16/10/17 was awarded in favour of Messrs Ecomaxx Engineering Projects Limited for the supply of items to the old people’s Home Yaba, Lagos, to the tune of N19,760,460.00, which was paid vide invoice no HQ/CS/0711 dated 01/06/17 there was no documentary evidence that the items were indeed delivered to the Home. In the same vein, the contract for supply of items to Yaba children’s orphanage followed the same pattern.
For instance, whilst a contract awarded in favour of Trans-secure Limited was N19,467,000.00, the survey conducted by the audit team found out that N6,520,500.00 was the actual market price.
The NPA expenditure fraud prompted the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation to demand an explanation from Hadiza Bala Usman reasons for the sharp excessive increase in the Authority’s expenditure profile between 2016 and 2018.
“It was observed that total expenditure by the Authority increased astronomically by 128 per cent from N87.47 billion in 2016 to N198.98 billion in 2017. Of particular concern were the administrative expenses which increased by 72 per cent from N26.126 billion in 2016 to N44.93 billion in 2017.
Among the laundering tactics uncovered by the Audit Query revealed that whereas in 2016 N22.16 million was expended on revenue monitoring, the amount rose to a whopping N1.06 billion in 2017. Similarly, overseas training rose from N20.48 million in 2016 to N470 million.
Also, whereas N15.31 million was spent on vessels /craft in 2016, the amount rose to N117.4 million in 2017.
The excessive expenditure of pollution control also attracted the scrutiny of the auditors who insisted that Hadiza Bala Usman must tell Nigerians why and how N4.2 billion was spent in 2017 as against N29 million in 2016. Other over-bloated increase in expenditure include local and foreign medical expenses, legal fees, corporate souvenirs and expenditure on other government agencies which rose from N50.29 million in 2016 to N338.59 million in 2017.
The Audit also raised its yellow flag on an alleged “diversion of N369.71 million through the Nigerian Ports Today” the official in-house magazine of the NPA. “Payments to Nigerian Ports Today were reviewed to confirm whether they were properly initiated, authorized, processed, documented and paid in line with the Public Procurement Act 2007,”the report said.
However “findings revealed the sum of N369,718,130.82 was paid to Nigerian Ports Today, a Limited liability company that is fully owned and controlled by NPA during the period under review. There was no evidence of contractual relationship in the form of award of contract to the company nor was there anything to show the company rendered services to the Authority to justify these payments and concludes that the Authority paid the company without a contract and thereby contravening the Public Procurement Act 2007, and that this was viewed as a means to divert public funds,” the report alleged.
The Audit query also took serious exceptions to various expenditure incurred by the NPA on behalf of the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, for which a whopping $604,598.95 was paid without supporting documents.
Hadiza Bala Usman was asked to refund the said sum into government treasury. Usually dependable source at the office of the AuditOR-General of the Federation told Shipping World that the Audit queries cuts across all units and departments of the agency and that massive over-invoicing and flagrant disregard for due process were uncovered. In all, at least a mind-boggling N20billion of NPA’s financial transactions between 2016 and 2018 could not be traced, documented, or explained.
On the other hand, another online platform, MaritimeFirst newspaper, noted that an in-house fighting is brewing at the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) since Thursday President Muhammadu Buhari suspended Hadiza Bala-Usman and handed leadership to the Executive Director, Finance, Mr Mohammed Koko.
The online newspaper went further to say that information filtering in from the grapevine says plans are high to set ablaze the Accounts and Audit Department of the Authority.
It noted that industry watchers who blamed Hadiza for running the office with impunity, however, highlighted that Koko was not a reasonable alternative, alleging that Koko had a case with the Interpol and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). “Koko has issues with both the Interpol and the EFCC,” they said.
He didn’t pass the security test before he was appointed to the exalted office as the appointment went through the backdoor, an industry watcher who spoke on condition of anonymity alleged.
A statement issued by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity, Garba Shehu, said the NPA strong-woman, Hadiza Bala Usman was suspended following recommendation of the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi.
Consequently, an Administrative Panel of Inquiry would be set up to investigate the management of the Nigerian Ports Authority, under Hadiza.
“The President has also approved that the Managing Director, Hadiza Bala Usman step aside while the investigation is carried out. Mr Mohammed Koko will act in that position.
“The panel is to be headed by the Director, Maritime Services of the Ministry, while the Deputy Director, Legal of the same ministry will serve as Secretary”, Garba Shehu said, adding that other members of the probe panel will be appointed by the Minister, Rotimi Amaechi.
But another industry watcher, Tony Emeordi, said there was need to know if the probe would be open or a closed probe panel, as both Hadiza and Koko has sufficient information to nail each other. If it is closed, how do we ascertain its fairness? If it is open, everyone should attend it with tapes, he advised.
Yet another industry watcher who also spoke on condition of anonymity said, he was aware that while Hadiza went on leave and Koko held fort, a lot of administrative blunders were committed including an alleged employment of NYSC people serving in the Authority. He further alleged that one of the beneficiaries of the ‘atrocities’ was a child of a serving NPA General Manager from the North.
“I understand that when Bala Usman went on leave, Koko took the opportunity to amass vital dossier against her. On her resumption, when some of her loyalists unveiled the development, she too, immediately built up a huge file for Koko,” the source said.
“In fact, we learnt that was when she gathered that the London Koko was frequenting was over his case with the Interpol”, he alleged further.
An importer in Apapa, Jude Nwanna, said he learnt that Koko was Rotimi Amaechi’s Account Officer in Zenith Bank, when Amaechi was the Rivers State Governor.
He said Koko was so ‘effectively good’, that when Amaechi became a Minister, he brought him to NPA, wanting to make him the Managing Director, before unexpected power play ended the ambition as the Second in Command.
“Koko is a good man and a core professional. You can’t unravel Amaechi without first unnerving Koko”, he explained further, praising Koko’s unblemished loyalty, particularly to Amaechi.
A ship chandler whose view was sought advised Government to ask Koko to also step aside, pointing out that a man who is currently a candidate of Interpol and EFCC probes, if true, has no moral right, heading the NPA.
“If Koko wants Hadiza out to enable himself get there, then how can the probe be free and fair? Are we all sleeping? Doesn’t it occur to you that Koko would do everything humanly possible to ensure that Hadiza does not come back?
However, in a related development, the Shipping World magazine has provided bullet points of allegations, over which Hadiza Bala-Usman may be probed, MaritimeFirst newspaper said.
The alleged corrupt practices according to Shipping World magazine include:
*Cancelling running stevedoring contracts and awarding same to self and acolytes for 10 years;
*Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects that are supposed to serve as Palliatives for communities impacted by port operations, she has turned into a jamboree and avenue for indiscriminate award of inflated contracts at all locations, especially in the North;
*The Palliatives intended to assist Internally Displaced Persons turned into an avenue for contract awards at exorbitant cost;
*PBT approved the purchase of Toyota Coaster staff buses but Chinese made buses were supplied. Ditto for ambulances;
*Most contracts in NPA allegedly being awarded to her brother (name withheld) through many phony companies and other fronts;
*Generally, over invoicing and inflation of contracts and non-compliance with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act and extant regulations on pricing;
*There was a contract that was recently awarded for the supply of 200 torchlights for N8million.
*Serving corps members were employed in NPA which is against the law and service rules;
*Fresh graduates were employed and promoted to one or two grade levels within two years in contravention of NPA Conditions of service and other civil service rules;
*Misleading the Board into approving promotions for select officers over their seniors through improper placement and promotion in contravention of Federal Government circular referenced FC.6243/S.1/Vol.XV111/5 of 28th May, 2010 and the Presidential Directive conveyed vide letter referenced PRES/30-1 dated 20th September, 2004.
As clarified and reiterated by circular referenced FCSC/CHMN/CL/17/Vol.1/36 of 22nd October, 2013 which conveys the applicable policy as at today;
*Misleading the Board to approve the retention of officers who retired on contract without the fulfillment of the prerequisites for that kind of appointment under the conditions of service and extant Service rules.
*Auditors have been transferred for simply questioning and querying supplies being made by contractors, particularly with regards to quantity, quality and conformity with the approved standards by the PTB as reflected in the Letters of Award.
On Thursday, the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), called a public court classification of Hadiza and Nigeria Customs Service Comptroller General, Hamid Ali, in terms of performance and relevance, as well as in terms of prudent management of revenue generation, said MaritimeFirst newspaper.
