NPA Records N163.5bn Revenue In six Months, Says GM

NPA Raises Alarm Over Collapse Of Tin Can Island, Onne Ports Infrastructure

The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has stated that it recorded N163.5 billion earnings between January and June of 2021, representing 54 percent accomplishment of its 2021 revenue target.

According to the General Manager, Finance of NPA, Emeka Ezugwu, who made the disclosure in Abuja on Thursday during an interactive session on 2022-2024 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF). The session was held by the House of Representatives Committee on Finance.

He told the committee that NPA’s 2021 revenue goal was N301.7 billion, noting that “as of June 2021 we have attained N163.5 billion. That should be 54% performance. We are on course to meeting the estimate.”

Ezugwu stated that the NPA generated N284.36billion in 2018, N280.3 billion in 2019 and N303.58 billion in 2020.

Ezugwu in his response to allegations by an official of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC), Bello Gulmare, that NPA did not file its audited accounts for 2019 and 2020 and that it has an outstanding liability of N255 billion to settle with the Federal Government, the NPA General Manager said, “Our 2019 (accounts) has already been approved by the board, 2020 is ongoing. FRC has not done any reconciliation with the NPA for the past four years.

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“The figure he is brandishing does not align with what we have. We have done reconciliation with Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMFAC). We are also engaging the Accountant General (of the Federation) office right now and we have a letter from them inviting us for reconciliation.”

Responding, the Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, James Faleke, said FRC was the body statutory empowered by the constitution to monitor remittances.

“By law, when it comes to remittances, this office (FRC) is superior to the Accountant General Office. This is a constitutional office—it is not just created by an act of the National Assembly.

“It is important that you reconcile with the FRC. You should be eager to reconcile with them. If their report is laid before the National Assembly and you are found wanting, it has consequences. So, reconcile within two weeks.

“We have ruled that we need a comprehensive list of all agreements reached by NPA with its tenants, indicating how much each of those tenants are supposed to be paying on a monthly or annual basis and copies of the agreements be attached. We need all the account details of the JVC accounts.”

The Deputy Chairman of the committee, Saidu Abdullahi, said NPA’s annual revenue target was unambitious. He said the Federal Government should give the agency “more ambitious revenue targets”.