Chisaa Okoye
The Minority Caucus in the House of Representatives has urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to take over investigation into the alleged mismanagement of N165 billion by the suspended Managing Director of the Nigerian Port Authority, Hadiza Bala Usman.
In a statement Monday, by the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Honourable Ndudi Elumelu, the Caucus noted that investigation of such massive fraud should not be left to a mere administrative panel of enquiry, but should be conducted by the anti-graft agency, the EFCC.
Elumelu argued that by committing the fraud of that magnitude to an administrative panel, “political manipulations and partisan influences had taken precedence over what should have been a system-wide investigation into a monumental fraud.”
“This is because, apart from the unremitted N165 billion cited by the Minister, other documents and reports from the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation had also uncovered several sleazes, including unremitted deduction to Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) amounting to N3,667,750,470. $148,845,745.04, Euro 4,891,449.50 and £252,682.14.
“This is in addition to audit query of N15.18 billion allegedly stolen through inflated Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects/programmes under the watch of the suspended NPA Managing Director.
“As representatives of the suffering people of Nigeria, our Caucus is particularly very worried that such monumental lootings are going on at a time terrorists, bandits, unknown gunmen, and criminal militias are reigning supreme across the length and breadth of the country and life has consequently become the cheapest article in the country,” the Caucus said.
Elumelu therefore urged the EFCC to “take in the indicted Managing Director, Hadiza Bala Usman, and commence a system-wide investigation with a view to prosecuting her, if found wanting”.
He said: “Our Caucus holds that the mere suspension of the indicted Managing Director of the NPA, Hadiza Bala Usman, and the resort to an administrative panel of enquiry even after the report by the Supervising Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, exposed an unremitted and possibly diverted operating surplus of N165 billion, amounts romancing and perfuming corruption by the APC-led federal government.
“The Minority Caucus also believes that the recourse to an administrative instead of a full-scale criminal investigation can only serve as a decoy to shield some other APC government officials involved in the looting spree at NPA and other affiliated agencies in the transport sector,” the statement added.