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

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.