The suspension of Hadiza Bala-Usman as the managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority is not complete without an equal action on the Mohammed Bello-Koko, the Data Centre for Rural Development has said.
Director, DCRD, Moses Uvomata, at a press conference in Lagos on Wednesday said the suspension of Bala-Usman was meaningless without also asking Bello-Koko who served as executive director, finance and administration, under her to step aside.
The Federal Government had recently suspended Bala-Usman and inaugurated a panel to investigate policies of the NPA after alleging that the organisation under her failed to remit N165bn into the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
It also announced the appointment of Bello-Koko as the acting managing director of the organisation.
Uvomata said the Federal Government should not have suspended Bala-Usman without taking a corresponding action on Bello-Koko who was in charge of finance at the organisation.
“Why should the Nigerian government suspend the managing director of NPA and keep the Executive Director, Finance and Admin, who is responsible for initiating remittances in question?” he queried.
Uvomata said if the NPA finance director had implemented the right Enterprise Resource Planning solution, there would not be any need to dispute what should be remitted to the Federal Government.
He added, “The demand is for the Director of Finance and Admin to be suspended immediately, the head of the probe panel replaced, and that the NPA should acquire an appropriate ERP solution that can automate her accounting processes to avoid reoccurrence of such issues.”
Director of the ICT, DCRD, David Jaiyeoba, said governments should adopt a system assurance on a continuous basis, emphasising that systems were not built around individuals.
“Quality assurance ensures we do not deviate,” he added.
The DCRD is a non-profit organisation that campaign for change in government processes.
