BY VICTOR BUORO, ABUJA – The Minority Caucus in the House of Representatives on Monday called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to as a matter of national importance commence the investigating of the suspended Managing Director of the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA), Ms Hadiza Bala Usman over alleged mismanagement of N165 billion.
The Caucus stressed that such a humongous economic crime against the nation should not and must not be left to an administrative panel of enquiry, but should as a matter of urgency be committed to an anti-graft agency for a thorough and an independent investigation.
Leader of the Caucus, who is the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu stated this in a statement, saying that as representatives of the suffering people of Nigeria, the Caucus is particularly very worried that such monumental lootings are going on at a time terrorists, bandits, unknown gunmen, and criminal militias are reigning supreme across the length and breadth of the country in which life has consequently become the cheapest article in the country
The Caucus therefore urged the EFCC to as a matter of national interest, move in immediately and “take in the suspended Managing Director, Hadiza Bala-Usman, and commence a system-wide investigation with a view to prosecuting her, if found wanting.
Elumelu said that the Minority Caucus insists that the mere suspension of Hadiza Bala Usman and the resort to an administrative panel of enquiry even after the report by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, who supervises her, exposed an unremitted and possibly diverted operating surplus of N165 billion speaks volume.
In the words of Elumelu; “This amounts romancing and perfuming corruption by the APC-led Federal Government. The Minority Caucus also believes that the recourse to an administrative instead of a full-scale criminal investigation can only serve as a decoy to shield some other APC government officials involved in the looting spree at NPA and other affiliated agencies in the transport sector”.
He expressed concerns that by committing the alleged NPA looting to an administrative panel, political manipulations and partisan influences would take precedence over what should have been a system-wide investigation into a monumental fraud.
Elumelu explained that this is because, apart from the unremitted N165 billion cited by the Minister, other documents and reports from the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation had also uncovered several sleazes, including unremitted deduction to Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) amounting to N3,667,750,470. $148,845,745.04, Euro 4,891,449.50 and £252,682.14.
Elumelu further said; “This is in addition to audit query of N15.18 billion allegedly stolen through inflated Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects/programmes under the watch of the suspended NPA Managing Director.
“That such resources if channelled to the security sector and well managed would have made a world of difference in addressing the problem of insecurity in the country.
