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Former Managing Director of Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) Hadiza Bala-Usman has accused former Minster of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi of sacking her to protect the interest of INTELS Boat Service owned by former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar.
Bala-Usman, in her 200-page memoir: “Stepping On Toes: My Odyssey At The Nigerian Ports Authority”, published by Cable Books, said the NPA’s refusal under her watch to pay $22 million for dredging the Calabar port channel and refusal to renew the INTELS Boat Service contracts were the main reasons Amaechi orchestrated her removal from office.
According to her, someone had warned her that the minister would want her out when two important contracts were due for renewal.
“The first of this was the capital dredging contract and the second, the service boat management contract.
“While the minister demanded an extension of tenure of the companies providing capital dredging services without due process, he got approval for the restoration of an expired service boat contract.
“He got this even though the company was owing the Federal Government, had violated the Treasury Single Account policy, and above all it no longer had any contract with the NPA,” she wrote.
Bala-Usman was suspended in May 2021 following an allegation of non-remittance of about N165 billion operating surpluses into the Consolidated Revenue Fund Account.
Amaechi set up an administrative panel of inquiry, including awards of contracts from 2016 to May 2021.
Bala-Usman said her office received a letter from the Ministry of Transportation in 2017 entitled: “Joint Venture Partnership between the Nigerian Ports Authority and Messrs. Niger Global Engineering and Technical Company Ltd on the Management of the Calabar Channel,” with a petition attached by the minister from a law firm.
“The law firms were solicitors to Messrs. Niger Global Engineering and Technical Company Ltd and requested the minister’s intervention in their client’s claim for the sum of $ 22million purportedly owed to their client by the NPA,” she wrote.
Bala-Usman said she found it incomprehensible that a Minister could ask that she stops a public tender process and instead re-appoint a company whose contract had also expired without a tender process
“Without raising any queries about the matter with the NPA, Amaechi wrote to the President informing him of shortfalls in yearly remittance of operating surplus by the NPA between 2016 and 2020,” she said
She says the former minister went further to seek Presidential approval that “I step aside”.
“As the days went on, many people encouraged me to meet with him to find out why things had degenerated to that extent and apologize if need be.
“So, on 20 May 2021, I went to see him in Abuja. At the meeting, he accused me of writing directly to the President without recourse to the ministry.
“He said he made the move because he wanted me to resign as he didn’t want me in the office anymore. He concluded by saying that I should resign or go to court.
“I told him I wasn’t going to do either, especially now that a probe panel was in place. The Public Service does not in fact accept resignations from staff under probe.
“I told him that I would rather wait for the panel to complete its task and present their findings as I was sure that I had done nothing wrong,” Bala-Usman writes.
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