Untitled Document

Senate query NPA fire incident

By FIDELIS UGBOMEH

THE senate ad-hoc committee which is currently investigating the management of fund in some agencies under the transportation sector has expressed doubt over last week fire outbreak at the Marina Lagos headquarters of the NPA.
Chairman of the committee, Senator Heineken Lokbobiri told correspondents in Abuja at the weekend [Friday] that in spite of the controversial fire incident, the committee would not be deterred in its investigation of how policies and finance were administered at the Port authority within the past few years.

Reacting to recent reports that vital document had been destroyed by the early Thursday inferno, contrary to claims by the Managing Director Mallam Abdulsalam Mohammed, Senator Lokpobiri said his Committee would have to rely on bank statements in forging ahead with its probes.

“I heard that a part of the NPA headquarters was burnt yesterday. But the bank statements would not be burnt. The banks will be in custody of whatever transactions that may have taken place over the years. The banks statements would be brought”, he stressed.

A visibly angry Senator Lokpobiri pointed out that his committee had earlier directed all agencies under the transportation sector including the NPA to avail with their banks statements but regretted that none had so far complied except one.
“I think only the Nigerian Shippers Council has brought its bank statements. I am sounding a note of warning to the others that this Senate Committee will not condone any none compliance. We have sufficient powers in the constitution to sanction to sanction any erring persons and this include summons, warrant of arrest, and whatever powers that are vested in us”, he said.

The Chairman who expressed disgust over apparent plots by some of the attested organizations to conceal some vital documents required for its investigation however pointed out that the Committee would not be deterred by the fire incident at NPA in carrying out its assignment to a logical conclusions.

The early dawn inferno at the imposing six storey structure started at the last floor that houses the boardroom, the MD's Office as well as the MD's Correspondence Office said to be a store house to a lot of vital documents.

It would be recalled that the anti the EFCC had twice probed the NPA of an alleged N100 billion contract scam reportedly perpetuated about six years ago, during the tenure of Mallam Ahmed Dabo and Chief Olabode George respectively
Managing Director of the Nigeria Ports Authority Mallam Abdusalam Mohammed however said that no vital documents were destroyed during the fire incident that gutted the Authority's headquarters on the day President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua came to Lagos to commission AP terminal, investigations reveal that the place was deliberately set on fire to cover some frauds perpetrated by some top managements officers.

The fraud may have however been committed during the administration of Alhaji Dabo, some five or six years ago.
Incidentally, the fire incident occurred as the Senate Ad hoc Committee marine transportation visited the headquarters of the Authority to perform its oversight function. Incidentally, the Nigeria Ports Authority is an organization under the Ministry of Transportation.

The Senate Committee had asked all parastatals under the Ministry of Transportation to submit relevant documents including bank accounts to the committee. Ironically only the Nigeria Shippers Council had submitted its bank statements while NPA had not done so.

The inferno which gutted the sixth floor of the Marina head quarters of the NPA consumed six offices including that of the Personal Assist ant to the Managing Director and Correspondence office.
A source close to the Authority alleged that vital documents which could have incriminated the NPA management were destroyed in the fire incident.

But for the quick intervention of the Union Bank Plc fire fighters, the whole building would have been razed by the early morning inferno.

The Minister of Transportation Mrs. Alison Madueke also visited Lagos to assess the extent of damage.
Reacting to the incident, the Chairman, Senate Committee Ad hoc Committee that is investigating the management of funds and the implementation of policies in the transportation sector, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri said at the weekend: I don't know what they are hiding. But the Constitution of of Nigeria, particularly Sections 88 and 89, has given us unqualified powers to compel anybody to produce any document, including the banks.

“I heard that the sixth floor of NPA headquarters was burnt but the bank statement involving financial transactions will not be burnt. The banks will be in custody of whatever transactions that may have taken place over the years. The banks statements will be brought and we have asked all relevant agencies to bring their bank statements” he said.