Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation, says he is not
aware of the suspension of Hadiza Bala Usman as the managing director of
Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).
On May 5, President Muhammadu Buhari approved Usman’s
suspension following a recommendation by Amaechi.
After Usman’s suspension, Amaechi inaugurated an 11-member
investigative panel to probe NPA over all contracts awarded since 2016 when
Usman became its managing director.
Usman was initially accused of failing to remit the operating surplus of NPA to the consolidated revenue fund (CFR) — an allegation she denied.
In an interview with Arise TV on Monday, Amaechi denied
knowledge of Usman’s suspension, saying she was only asked to “step aside”
pending the conclusion of the probe on NPA.
“I am not aware that I suspended Hadiza, I’m not the
president. So I don’t have such power. That power rests with the president,” he
said.
“I am not aware that
Hadiza was suspended. What happened, I suspect, is that she was asked to step
aside to enable investigation to be carried out on NPA, not on her.
“We are investigating NPA. At the conclusion of the
investigation, all the reports will be forwarded to the president who would
make a determination on the way forward.”
Amaechi added that he is not sure when the panel will
conclude its ongoing probe on NPA.
The minister also accused the media of creating “too much
noise” on the suspension of the NPA MD.
“The panel is not
headed between the ministry of transport and office of the head of service. The
office of the head of service contributed six persons including auditors and
accountants, and the ministry of transport just brought five,” he said.
“So it is a panel of 11 that has been instituted to
investigate activities of NPA from 2016 till the present day.
“It is NPA that is under investigation. The managing
director has just been asked to step aside pending the conclusion of the
investigation. And when the investigation is concluded, the president will make
a determination and decide what happens next.”
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