The clarification also covered the $852,093,731.10 mentioned in the Auditor General of the Federation’s report circulating in the media. The NPA clarified that a total of $232,354,156.43 out of this sum had already been recovered.
Mr. Mohammed Bello-Koko, the Managing Director of the NPA, who appeared before the Committee, stated, "The House Committee on Public Accounts thoroughly verified the money in the 9th Assembly and gave the Authority a clean bill of health."
Bello-Koko further explained that the discrepancy between the positions of the Senate and House of Representatives Public Accounts Committees stemmed from the continuous repetition of sums dating back to the period before the 2006 concession of the Authority.
He said, “Most of the debts date back decades. I mean legacy debts from companies like Nigerian National Shipping Line Ltd and from pre- concession period.
“But we have been carrying these debts in our books and we have been impairing the amounts, thereby making provisions for all such debts. We have written to Auditor-General of the Federation on the procedure to take them out of our books and solicited for the support of the Senate Committee in this regard.”
Bello-Koko assured the Senate Committee on Public Accounts that “In the spirit of public accountability, we will always be open to give account.”
On the debt he explained that the figures included estate rents, lease fees and throughput charges among others as stipulated in the Concession Agreements.
According to him, “The debts date back to the period 2006 to 2019,” adding that “There have been recoveries within the period under review, and they are unrecoverable debts owing to issues such as Volume Change, Gross Minimum Tonnage (GMT)/Penalties, Encumbered Areas. etc.”
Bello-Koko disclosed that the management of the Authority, in a concerted effort to correct the anomalies as seen in the concession agreements, engaged the World Bank to provide consultancy services for its review while an inter-agency committee comprising NPA, FMOT, FMOJ, BPE and ICRC developed a template to address the inherent anomalies in the agreements that allowed for the accumulation of such debts and to forestall a recurrence.”
