The Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation has identified seven irregularities in the 2017 audited accounts of the Nigerian Ports Authority and queried them.
The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts also invited the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, and the management of NPA to appear before it on July 8, 2021 to explain the queries.
The Auditor General, Adolphus Aghughu, in an audit report sent to the National Assembly, asked for clarifications on the standalone financial statements and non-current assets (depreciation, addition to fixed assets, property, plant and equipment, and interest in joint ventures) in the NPA’s audited account.
He also queried the current assets (cash and cash equivalent, trapped fund in Enterprise Bank, inventories, trade receivables, etc.), liabilities, statement of profit and loss, and other comprehensive income, expenditures and administrative expenses.
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Commenting on the N65.763bn spent on fixed assets, Aghughu asked the NPA management to provide the analysis of the assets acquired during the year, showing suppliers, evidence of ownership, gross amounts, outstanding amounts (if any), taxes deducted and remitted to the relevant tax authority and the current status of the assets.
Also on property, plant and equipment, on which N390.581bn was spent, the Auditor General said, “The carrying amount of the property, plant and equipment and properties on lease were qualified in the auditor’s independent report, because they were unable to obtain sufficient and appropriate audit evidence to confirm the completeness, existence and valuation of the carrying amounts.
“In view of the above, the management is required to provide the schedules of movable assets purchased by the concessionaires per the various lease agreement and furnish the list of assets in use and projects in progress acquired or being executed by the concessionaires for the authority under the ports development programmes of the lease agreements for audit scrutiny.”
He demanded for “sufficient records, backed up with a detailed fixed asset register to support the existence, completeness and carrying amounts of property, plant and equipment, as well as properties on lease,”
According to him, NPA management should provide an updated non-current assets register showing the dates of purchase, location of assets and amount depreciated to date.
The NPA Managing Director, Zainab Bala-Usman, had come under fire for alleged financial mismanagement, which led to her suspension in May this year.
The Federal Government also inaugurated a panel to investigate the policies and the management of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) under the leadership of Bala-Usman.
The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, charged the panel to confirm Bala-Usman’s compliance with extant laws and rules from 2016 till date, accusing the NPA of failing to remit N165.32billion to the Consolidated Revenue Fund from 2016 to 2020.
