Reps To Probe Port Operators $800m Indebtedness To NPA •Investigate PTAD’s Failure To Employ New Staff
The House of Representatives has declared that it will conduct a probe into an alleged indebtedness of over $800million by port operators to the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA).
This was disclosed by the chairman of the House Committee on Public Accounts, Honourable Oluwole Oke, who said the probe will be conducted in Lagos.
The committee chairman said since NPA needed to be present alongside the port operators during the exercise, it is important that the House Committee to investigation closer Lagos, where it is domiciled.
“The parliament will move the hearing to Lagos where all parties will meet with us at Marriott Hotel in Ikeja between 8th and 9th December.
“We hope to resolve this issue once and for all. $800million is not small money,” Honourable Oke, the chairman, House Committee on Public Accounts stated.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts has commenced a probe into the failure of the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) to employ workers in 2018 even though the Parliament appropriated money for that purpose.
The committee, sitting last Friday, accused the agency of lying to the government and the Parliament and denying other agencies of government money that could have been used for other purposes.
The House Committee further said the probe borders on the complain that of most agencies of government had been funding, while PTAD had excess to money, but failed to utilise it.
According to an audit query raised against the agency by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation, the agency was given N1.7 billion as personnel cost in 2018, but utilised only N1.4 billion and returned the balance of about N310 million to the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
It was stated in the audit query that, “in 2020, the agency’s allocation for personnel cost went up to N1.8 billion, reducing to N1.6 billion in 2021, going up again to N1.9 billion in 2022, even when the workers have not been employed.”
Acting on the audit query before it, the House Committee, chaired by Honourable Oluwole Oke, observed that, despite not recruiting the required staff, the agency got the same amount of N1.7 billion as personnel cost in 2019, with the amount spent going up to about N1.6 billion.
The committee members demanded for the NEEDS assessment carried out in the agency by the Head of Service and the Federal Character Commission (FCC) leading to their budgetary request since 2017.
Honourable Oke, who insisted on the probe, said something was wrong in the agency, and wondered why its personnel cost kept rising and falling, even when new staff have not been employed.
He said: “The Head of Service and the Federal Character Commission must have carried out a needed assessment on your agency leading to your request for funds to employ.
“We gave you that money, but you failed to use it. The complain of most agencies have been lack of funds. But here, you got the funds you requested for and yet, failed to use it.
“You have lied to the parliament through the President and has denied other agencies the use of that money. So, we need to see the assessment that was carried out on your agency that led to the parliament giving you this money.
“By not using this money for what it was meant for, you have committed an offence against the appropriation act. But we will give you a right of fair hearing to explain to us the reason(s) for your action.”
However, a senior officer of the agency, Abdullah Abubakar, explained that the agency budgeted N1.7 billion for personnel cost in 2018 because it initially planned to employ new staff, adding that the balance of N310 million was returned to the treasury.
Abubakar, who represented the Executive Secretary of PTAD, Dr. Chioma Ejikeme, said: “Our personnel is handled by IPPIS. The balance of the money budgeted was returned to the CRF because we did not employ the staff that we needed to employ.
“Till date, we are still in need of those workers, but we are yet to get a waiver from the Head of Service to employ,” he said.
Abubakar explained that the increase in expenditure despite not employing new staff was as a result of promotion of existing workers and the need to adjust their salaries in accordance with their new rank.
