Hadiza Bala Usman, the suspended managing director of the
Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), has denied media reports she solely awarded
ports contract during her tenure.
In a statement signed by her on Sunday, May 9, 2021, Usman
described such reports as “irresponsible, mischievous and defamatory”.
Last week, President Muhammadu Buhari approved the
suspension of Bala Usman as the managing director of the Nigerian Ports
Authority (NPA) and approved the appointment of Mohammed Koko pending the
outcome of an investigation into the maritime sector.
Bala Usman said 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 Nigeria.
“To claim that I singlehandedly awarded a contract in my
capacity as Managing Director, is, therefore, irresponsible, mischievous, and
defamatory,” the statement read.
“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.”
Explaining her position on the Onne berths 9, 10 and 11,
Bala Usman said the NPA offered these berths to INTELs in 2013 without any
contractual agreement even though the offer letter required that the company
should pay rent to the Authority for the use of the berths.
“In 2018, the Authority realised that INTELs had neither
been making these payments for five years nor putting the berths to optimal
use,” the statement read.
“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!
Bala Usman also refuted allegations that she was involved in
a “clandestine ploy to shortchange a company” in favour of Africa’s richest
man, Aliko Dangote.
“This report is false, without any foundation and a figment
of some wild imagination of the news platform,” the statement added.
“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.”
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