BY GODWIN OBI
The Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, has made valid clarifications to the Senate Committee on Public Accounts on the debt sum of N1 billion, which the committee said was not clarified in the report of the Auditor General of the Federation.
Mr. Mohammed Bello-Koko, the ,Managing Director of NPA who appeared before the Committee said that the House Committee on Public Accounts had, in the 9th Assembly, thoroughly verified the money and had given the authority a clean bill of health.
Bello-Koko explained that the misunderstanding between the position of the Senate and House of Representatives Public Accounts Committees arose from the continuous repetition of sums dating back to the period before the year 2006 concession of the authority, which the current The Nigerian Ports Authority’s management had already accounted for but the sums had yet to be expunged from its books.Speaking on December 8, 2023, when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Bello-Koko explained the facts of the matter to the Senators.
He said: “Most of the debts date back decades. I mean legacy debts from companies like Nigerian National Shipping Line Ltd and from pre- concession period.
“But we have been carrying these debts in our books and we have been impairing the amounts, thereby making provisions for all such debts. We had written the Auditor-General of the Federation on the procedure to take them out of our books and solicited the support of the Senate Committee in this regard.”
Bello-Koko assured the Senate Committee on Public Accounts that “In the spirit of public accountability, we will always be open to give account.”
Responding to question that he should further clarify the debt issue, he explained that the debt figures were composed of estate rents, lease fees and throughput charges among others as stipulated in the Concession Agreements.
According to him, “The debts date back to the period 2006 to 2019. There have been recoveries within the period under review, and they are unrecoverable debts owing to issues such as Volume Change, Gross Minimum Tonnage (GMT)/Penalties, Encumbered Areas etc.”
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2023-12-11
