Why senators launched probe on NPA – MD

Personal interest is behind the ongoing probe of the Nigeria
Ports Authority (NPA) by the Senate, Managing Director of the
agency, Hadiza Bala Usman has said.

Speaking in an interview with BBC Hausa Service, monitored in
Abuja, she said the Calabar Channels Management Company, one of the
companies contracted by the authority for the dredging work,
refused to execute the work, which, as a result, the NPA boss
stopped payment of the money.

This, Usman said, did not go down well with a particular senator
in the upper chamber, who continues to work hard to ‘tarnish and
sabotage’ the works of the agency.

“We welcome it (the senate probe), because at NPA, we have even
gone beyond investigation. When I came on board, I looked at the
money spent on dredging and I found out that a lot of money was
being spent.

“I therefore developed a plan, where we engaged consultants who
would be examining the exact dredging needed for ships to sail and
then we would pay only that exact amount. We would conclude
everything in the next 3 months,” she said when asked of the senate
probe.

But on the genesis of the probe, Usman said “I don’t know why
they are launching the probe, but there are some people who support
the Calabar Channels Management Company. It is one of the companies
handling our dredging. There is a concern that the company did not
execute some contract works.

“So I refused to pay them because there is no evidence to show
that they actually executed the dredging of the waters.

“Some of the sympathisers of this company are senators, and in
particular one senator was behind this sabotage in NPA activities.
But whatever he is doing will not distract us from what we are
doing because we have proofs that this particular company has not
executed the work.”

Asked on repercussions of the probe, she said “We are not afraid
of any further discovery, because we have nothing to hide regarding
this dredging issue.”

On the system she found in NPA, Usman said a lot of work to
reposition the system has been going on and the anomalies found at
the end would be sent to EFCC for action.

“But we are strengthening our IT infrastructure to stop
leakages,” she said, stressing that there has not been “anything”
that was discovered thus far apart from some NPA directors
sanctioned by Swiss, who were involved in extortion through one of
the Nigerian companies.

“When I came across that report, I called the company and
received their receipts. We are going to hand them to EFCC for
their own investigation,” she said.

Personal interest is behind the ongoing probe of the Nigeria
Ports Authority (NPA) by the Senate, Managing Director of the
agency, Hadiza Bala Usman has said.

Speaking in an interview with BBC Hausa Service, monitored in
Abuja, she said the Calabar Channels Management Company, one of the
companies contracted by the authority for the dredging work,
refused to execute the work, which, as a result, the NPA boss
stopped payment of the money.

This, Usman said, did not go down well with a particular senator
in the upper chamber, who continues to work hard to ‘tarnish and
sabotage’ the works of the agency.

“We welcome it (the senate probe), because at NPA, we have even
gone beyond investigation. When I came on board, I looked at the
money spent on dredging and I found out that a lot of money was
being spent.

“I therefore developed a plan, where we engaged consultants who
would be examining the exact dredging needed for ships to sail and
then we would pay only that exact amount. We would conclude
everything in the next 3 months,” she said when asked of the senate
probe.

But on the genesis of the probe, Usman said “I don’t know why
they are launching the probe, but there are some people who support
the Calabar Channels Management Company. It is one of the companies
handling our dredging. There is a concern that the company did not
execute some contract works.

“So I refused to pay them because there is no evidence to show
that they actually executed the dredging of the waters.

“Some of the sympathisers of this company are senators, and in
particular one senator was behind this sabotage in NPA activities.
But whatever he is doing will not distract us from what we are
doing because we have proofs that this particular company has not
executed the work.”

Asked on repercussions of the probe, she said “We are not afraid
of any further discovery, because we have nothing to hide regarding
this dredging issue.”

On the system she found in NPA, Usman said a lot of work to
reposition the system has been going on and the anomalies found at
the end would be sent to EFCC for action.

“But we are strengthening our IT infrastructure to stop
leakages,” she said, stressing that there has not been “anything”
that was discovered thus far apart from some NPA directors
sanctioned by Swiss, who were involved in extortion through one of
the Nigerian companies.

“When I came across that report, I called the company and
received their receipts. We are going to hand them to EFCC for
their own investigation,” she said.