Panel Indicts NPA Mgt over Contracts Award
From Onyebuch Ezigbo in Abuja
The Panel of inquiry set up to review the 29,586 contracts awarded between 2001 and 2003 by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) had while submitting its final report yesterday to the Minister of Transport, Dr. Abiye Sekibo, criticised the former management of the authority for adopting wrong procedure in approving the contracts.
Presenting the report of the seven-man committee to the minister, the Chairman, Alhaji Mustapha Bukar, said the panel discovered discrepancies in the record of contracts and that of items supplied to some departments of the organisation.
"There is need to review the manner in which contracts were being awarded by NPA. The practice whereby the process of granting approval for the contracts revolves between two persons leave much to be desired," the report said.
The report also blamed NPA management for failing to make use of the authority's Price Intelligence Unit in some of its dealings.
Bukar said it was the considered opinion of the committee members that the duties and roles of some officers in whose departments were found some discrepancies be further investigated and monitored by the authority and possibly sanctioned if need be.
He said after going through the contract records, the panel discovered that about 7,473 contracts worth over N16 billion have not been fully paid for by the Ports Authority.
"In our verification, we were able to establish the actual number of contractors being owed the amount to be 1,255 with the exception of a few others who could not beat our deadline for documentation", the chairman said.
Receiving the report, Sekeibo assured that the Federal Government will thoroughly examining the recommendations with a view to implementing to the letter where necessary.
He said that the period when public enterprise were operated without recourse to efficiency and accountability was over, adding that "it is no longer business as usual.
"We cannot continue to run government institutions and parastatals as if they were private property of some individuals. We must ensure that those who run these institutions down are not allowed to go unpunished", he declared.
He promised Nigerians that no person will be speared if found wanting by government after going through the report.
"Let me assure that we are determined to implement the recommendation and there would be no sacred cows", he said.
The committee on review of contracts at the NPA was set up October 28, 2003 and was mandated to investigate contract awards between years 2001 and 2003, establish how much was paid by NPA and suggest better ways in whichthe authority could be managed.
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