Scam Alarm At NPA Over Re-appointment Of Intels
…Revenue accruing to the Authority to go into Intels accounts instead of TSA
The financial system with regards to revenue collection at the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) is taking another troubling dimension following an alleged subtle plot by some directors of the Authority and officials of Intels.
This was as it gathered that the intention of the plot is with the aim to divert multi-million naira revenues due to the Federal Government from service boat contracts across all pilotage districts to some designated, but unauthorized bank accounts.
The development is causing some ripples and raising puzzles with some concerned port operators and staff members of the Authority that are now making reference to the plan.
These was just as there are unconfirmed feelers that the Intel Nigeria Limited is now owned by someone believed to be very close to President Bola Tinubu, is using his high-level connections to bring back the Intel’s through the back door.
It was reliably gathered that the humongous payments operators at the port are presently being directed to pay to the accounts of Intel Nigeria Limited, as against the TSA policy of government is becoming worrisome.
For instance, a copy of circular dated April 22, 2024, signed by Mr. Olalekan Badmus, Executive Director, Marine and Operations of the NPA on behalf of the Managing Director, Mr Mohammed Bello-Koko, which earlier directed all agents on service boats to make payments to NPA’s dedicated accounts with the Fidelity and Zenith Banks, indicated how revenues from service boat contracts were paid to some banks other than the Treasury Single Account (TSA) domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
However, in what appeared a curious twist, the April 22, 2024 circular was countermanded a week later, precisely on April 29, 2024, by the same Mr. Badmus in another circular directing all payments to Intels Nigeria Limited as the new Managing Agent of the NPA.
Intels Nigeria Limited which contract was not renewed during the tenure of the former Managing Director, Ms Hadiza Bala Usman, was recently reinstated as the NPA service boat managing agent across all pilotage districts after its contract expired.
Sources close to the NPA said the it was clear that the counter directive was not in tandem with the policy directive of the Federal Government with regards to payment of all revenue through the TSA, a development that further raised the suspicion of most staff that perceived the new directive as direct breach of the government’s policy which mandates all revenue-generating ministries, agencies and parastatals to remit all revenues to the TSA that was the practice in the NPA before Intels was re-engaged by the new management.
Further checks indicated that the April 29, 2024 circular, which directed payments to Intel, was actually influenced by Intel’s response to the earlier circular of April 22, 2024 as Intels Nigeria Limited’s letter of April 22, 2024, the same day that the NPA issued its earlier circular, solicited the assistance of the Authority’s management to initiate immediate action by sending letters to clients for prompt remittance of pilotage bills through the Managing Agent (Intels Nigeria limited) which sources noted was wrongly reinstated with the help of some powerful forces within the Villa.
A source said that this was like a marching order to the NPA management, which eventually led to the issuance of the second circular of April 29, 2024, reversing the earlier directive to clients to make payments to the TSA account.
Curiously, the Intel which is also a service provider like other agents, went on to list out names of clients with pilotage dues in all the pilotage districts and the outstanding amounts against them, but excluded its own unpaid dues from the list.
The letter, signed by Luca Nagnaneli, Group Financial Officer of Intels, received very prompt attention, thereby raised suspicion of an alleged underhand deal between some NPA directors and officials of Intels Nigeria limited.
The development led some key insiders to query the decision of the NPA management to circumvent the policy of the federal government that mandates all payments into the TSA accounts by pandering to the whims and caprices of Intels, which itself is a service provider like the other agents operating in all the four pilotage districts.
Surprisingly, insider sources said that the letter from Intel was more like a directive to the NPA management instructing it to issue letters to service operators to pay through it (Intels Nigeria Limited) into its Zenith Bank PLC and Citibank New York accounts.
The source said; “When a client could have the audacity to issue directive to its employer, an important agency of the federal government, to embark on a clear illegal action of diverting federal government’s revenue to private accounts, it raises a lot of concerns.”
While the propriety or otherwise of the action of the NPA to circumvent the federal government’s policy on the TSA is still being debated, it is on record that Intel Nigeria Limited had, single handed dominated port business operations in Nigeria for the past 20 years before its monopoly was broken by Ms Hadiza Bala Usman, the former MD of the NPA, who refused to renew its contract which expired in August, 2020.
The singular decision not to renew Intels’ contract was applauded by industry players as it opened opportunities for indigenous port operators to move in through the bidding process that was conducted on Monday, January 20, 2020.
Accordingly, bids were submitted for the four lots, in Lagos, Warri, Bonny/Port-Harcourt, and Calabar pilotage districts.
After the bidding process was successfully completed, the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), issued a due process compliance of “No Objection” for contract awards in favour of various contractors that bid for the jobs.
This was contained in a letter with reference no: BPP/S.1/Vol XV111/23/964 dated August 30, 2023, addressed to the Minister of Blue Economy, signed by its Director General, Mammam Ahmadu, in which the BPP advised the minister to proceed to seek the Federal Executive Council’s (FEC’s) approval for the award of the contracts.
However, almost a year later, the advice by the BPP, it was gathered is yet to be complied with by the Minister, thereby leaving the successful contractors in the dark with their fates hanging in the balance.
Curiously, Intel Nigeria Limited was among the contractors that bid for the jobs, but disqualified owing to multiple bids which contravened the bidding guidelines.
Surprisingly, Intels Nigeria Limited was re-engaged by the NPA through some unexplained arrangement and appointed as both a service provider and management agent in charge of collecting revenues from other boat operators on behalf of the Authority.
The surprised arrangement remains a big puzzle that has left concerned port operators bewildered as well as concerned staff members of the Authority that are finding it difficult to believe that such could take place.
The development has raised serious concerns over issues of accountability and the anti-corruption agencies tolerance level of public officials working in the present administration as it remains to be seen when and how the anti-corruption agency of the government, particularly the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), will move in to handle this particular matter.
NPA Explains Why INTELS Service Boat Contract Was Restored
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), had earlier explained why the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy restored the service boat monitoring operation with INTELS Nigeria Limited.
The NPA in a statement titled, “Setting the Record Straight in Respect of Service Boat Monitoring Operation in Nigerian Ports Authority: Reinstatement of INTELS Nigeria Limited as Management Agent,” decried the misinterpretation in a section of the media citing a letter issued by the Port Manager, Lagos Port Complex, Apapa and addressed to Shipping Companies on the matter.
It said that INTELS Nigeria Limited waived $193 million as part of efforts to resolve the stalemate on the pilotage contract with the federal government.
The NPA further said that the federal government lost humongous revenue in the period the NPA took over the management of pilotage, adding that Nigeria will save $326.895 million from the agreement it reached with INTELS on the contentious pilotage contract.
The NPA said; “After the expiration of the Service Boat Management Agreement, the authority took over the performance of the service through various Departments and Divisions. However, due to the constraint of not having the requisite technology to monitor the operations, the expected revenue dwindled and it resulted in the drastic reduction of revenue generation for the Authority.
“An analysis of its impact on the authority’s revenue showed a sharp decline from $216million and $209 million in 2014 and 2015 respectively under INTELS agency to $130 million and $99 million in 2020 and 2021 respectively after take over by NPA. The situation in 2023 is even worse as the collection up to June 2023 was only $55.3 million.”
The NPA stressed that the agreement reached with INTELS was carried out in national interest, saying that revenue generation will increase as a result of the effort.
…Additional report sourced from Leadership Newspapers
