Jennifer Y Omiloli
The House of Representatives has questioned the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) management for more than N5.1 billion contract awarded for the renovation of its headquarters in Lagos.
The Federation’s Auditor General posed a question on the contract awarded in 2011, with a 15-month completion period, but without a clear contract agreement signed with the contracting firm.
The query alleged that as at 2013 when the contract ought to have been completed and money paid out, there was no valid signed contractual agreement in place.
But the NPA Managing Director, Mrs. Hadiza Bala Usman, while appearing before the House Committee on Public Accounts yesterday, explained that the contract was awarded by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), adding that available records showed that it was a valid contractual agreement.
Nevertheless, the Committee ruled that the audit demand for the organization to produce the original copy should be dropped, as the available photocopies of the documents submitted before the Committee were not readable.
