Reps grill Usman over NPA’s N5.1bn renovation contract – TheNigerialawyer

The House of Representatives on Thursday grilled the management
of the Nigerian Ports Authority over a contract awarded at the cost
of N5.1bn for the renovation of the agency’s corporate headquarters
in Lagos.

The House Committee on Public Accounts had summoned the
management based on a query issued by the Office of the Auditor
General of the Federation on a contract awarded by the NPA in 2011
with a completion period of 15 months but without a validly signed
contractual agreement with the contracting firm.

The Managing Director of the NPA, Mrs Bala Usman, had led the
agency’s management before the committee for an investigative
hearing on Thursday.

The chairman of the committee, Mr Wole Oke, condemned the award
of such a contract size without a signed contractual agreement as
alleged in the query.

Usman, however, stated that the contract was awarded by the
Federal Executive Council and that available records showed that
there was a contractual agreement.

The committee insisted that only the original copy of the signed
agreement would clear the NPA of allegations raised in the
query.

As the committee said the photocopies of the documents presented
by the NPA were not readable, the lawmakers resolved that the audit
query be stepped down for the NPA to produce the original copy.

The contract was awarded for the renovation of the NPA
headquarters in Lagos and the relocation of some offices from the
headquarters to other locations.

The query alleged that as of 2013 when the contract ought to
have been completed and money paid out, there was no valid
contractual agreement in place.