The Case against Hadiza Bala-Usman

Mohammed Geidam

Since the suspension of the Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala-Usman, the need to draw attention to her various alleged infractions that led to her removal from office has become pertinent. This is because her supporters have been diverting attention away from the real issues. For example, Hadiza is said to have single-handedly awarded and approved contracts without the knowledge and approval of the supervisory Ministry of Transportation.

There is also the issue of her refusal to remit VAT deductions running into billions of Naira and in foreign currency denomination to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). The suspended MD is accused of excessive spending that has led to excessive increase in administrative and operational expenses; extra budgetary expenditures of close to N1billion on hotel accommodation and under-disclosure of expenditures on hotel expenses and the diversion of funds of about N369.7 million through the Nigerian Port Today.

NPA under Hadiza was said to have blatantly contravened government policy on the implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and its records relating to CSR fell short of the level of compliance with the Public Procurement Act, 2007. Procedures were said to have been flagrantly violated while huge expenditures running into billions of naira could not be justified.

For instance in 2018 alone, the suspended MD spent a whooping five billion Naira on CSR projects. Many of these CSR projects were said to be bogus, filled with inflated prices and many unverifiable items. Multiple sources at the Presidential Villa revealed that President Muhammadu Buhari was shocked that there was very scanty evidence of compliance with public Procurement Act and that most of the CSR projects/programmes were astoundingly inflated. The President was said to have noticed that delivery of CSR items were not accompanied by delivery letters and that in lot of cases, there was no evidence of actual items delivered and evidence of the receivers that signed for them. Hadiza must tell Nigerians why and how N4.2 billion was spent in 2017 as against N29 million in 2016, an increase of 14,310 % for Corporate Social Responsibility projects.

Insiders alleged that Hadiza perpetrated huge accounting fraud, deliberately cooking the books to mislead the government and drive the NPA’s budgets ever higher, regardless of port necessity. Hadiza made excessive expenditure on pollution control. Only between 2016 and 2018, at least, a mind-boggling N20 billion of NPA’s financial transactions could not be traced, documented, or explained.

Contrary to the claims by Hadiza in a statement she signed in response to reports in the media, Bala Usman as MD of NPA had single-handedly awarded contracts, approved contracts, cancelled contracts, and initiated the bidding process to award contracts. She also approved and cancelled leases and concessions without the knowledge and approval of her supervisory Ministry of Transportation. This is procedurally wrong and a serious infraction against the public service rules.

One example that is been cited is that the suspended NPA Managing Director advertised for bids, and opened the bids on the Engagement of Technical Auditors on Dredging and Channel Management of Lagos, Bonny/Port Harcourt and Warri/Escravos Pilotage Districts, even after she had been directed by the Ministry of Transportation not to award contract but for NPA to procure its equipment for this service. The ministry wanted NPA to carry out the service internally, which would save the country tens of millions of dollar. Moreso, NPA had the capacity to do it, all it needs to do is to buy the equipment it needs to carry out the service. But Hadiza completely disregarded the directive. She was in the process of awarding the contract before she was suspended. The contract runs into millions of dollars annually and she was about giving it out for about ten years, supposedly to her cronies.

Hadiza’s management style in NPA had also raised a lot of dust. She had been accused of having a cantankerous relationship with the board of NPA and a no-love-lost relationship with her supervisory ministry of Transportation. She had been accused of running NPA like her private empire and had shown disdain for the official communication channels with the ministry of Transportation. She showed no respect or regard for its officials. Inside NPA, her regime’s style was far more draconian. She practically took over and moved the Procurement Department that was and is usually under the Executive Director Finance and Administration and put it under her office. This gave her so much room to handle most of the procurement in NPA with little or no input from the Executive Director, Finance & Administration.

Hadiza’s relationship with the board of NPA was said to be very contentious. Nigerians got an insight into that relationship when a recently removed board member, Senator Binta Masi Garba disclosed that she was removed from the board (plotted by Hadiza) because she noted and questioned financial irregularities and infractions in the financial statements of NPA. Senator Garba said: “I was appointed into the board of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) sometime in March 2020. In January 2021, Senator John Akpanudoedehe and I were removed from the board and our removal was clearly orchestrated by the now suspended Managing Director (MD) of NPA, Hadiza Bala Usman.”

“Before my removal, I was not comfortable with the way the board and authority were run. I consistently expressed my discomfort and displeasure with the way the MD was running the place and this, I have no iota of doubt in my mind made her to orchestrate my removal from the board. Note, I was removed without the knowledge of the supervising ministry/Minister of Transportation, which was very uncommon.

“My observations and complaints against the suspended NPA MD were more with the financial statements of NPA and I worried that if she continued so, there would certainly be trouble and her sudden removal (suspension) would be inevitable. I noted discrepancies, I raised observations, I asked questions but I was completely ignored and disregarded. Answers were never provided, until my removal was plotted.”

“When the board came in, its first meeting was in June 2020, with the aim of deliberating on the financial report. I made some observations on the report which, obviously, the MD, Hadiza Bala-Usman, was not comfortable with. At the time, the report covered two years but I objected, pointing out that, under normal circumstances, procedurally and international norms, it should cover a minimum of three years. It was after my objection that the MD grudgingly and resentfully provided the third year’s report. I wasn’t really comfortable. I observed more discrepancies with the financials and asked questions about them. The MD was uncomfortable and even felt slighted by the objective comments and questions.

“Scrutinising the financial reports of the NPA is a very critical and very important aspect of my role and function as a member of its board, appointed by the President. I was not ready to abdicate that core responsibility. For me, my board membership of NPA, like every other public office I have held, was a call to serve my country and I was prepared to give it my all. But the suspended MD felt offended by my observations, questions, spotting obvious inconsistencies and acted like someone with a lot to hide. Answers were not forthcoming and, when they did, were less than satisfactory.
“Some members of the board felt I was the only one holding the financial report back. I had to meet with the Minister of Transportation and I told him I wasn’t comfortable with the way and manner the board was being handled and treated by the MD and that I wanted to resign.

“The board chairman, Chief Akin Ricketts (whose removal as board chairman was also orchestrated by the suspended MD) and some other members, prevailed on me not to resign and that, if I did, it would send the wrong signal and would not be good for the President. We settled down to work on it (the financial reports).

“After sometime, my uneasiness did not go away. Again, I met with the Minister of Transportation and told him that I did not want to continue with the board with the way the MD was running the place. I met someone high up in the Presidential Villa and told him my own story and advised that the MD be called to order. I also met and made similar observations and complaints to the then Director-General of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Dr. Nasiru and the then Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transportation, Mallam Zakari. Instead of making amends, the suspended MD’s next move was to go against the NPA Act by designing my removal from the board.

“The Act stipulates that it is the minister who should send names of appointees to the board to the President for approval. For someone to unilaterally go against the Act and the Minister that brought her on board was rather unfortunate. I made it very clear to everyone I spoke with about the situation in NPA, stressing that it was not about me but the system, rules and procedures, as well as the survival of our institutions. I could not keep quiet and watch the suspended MD run the NPA aground. I wished she had listened but she didn’t and opted to plot my removal from the board. Unfortunately, I have been vindicated.”

The argument that there was a procedural breach in asking Hadiza to step aside for the investigation to commence is completely wrong. She and her acolytes have pushed this false narrative. Constitutionally, the President has the power to hire or fire any of his appointees at any point in time. In this case, she wasn’t even fired. She was just asked to step aside for an investigation to take place. And the President and not the Minister did this.

A source in the administrative panel says the panel’s investigation will be more on the finances of the NPA – scrutinizing the Authority’s financial reports from 2016 to date, and a closer look at 2018 where there appear to be lots of suspected irregularities and infractions. “We are paying very little attention to issues of insubordination as falsely reported in a section of the media. Our focus is on the financials. We are more interested in scrutinizing NPA financials. That’s where our major focus would be”, a member of the panel said.

However, there are several accounts of insubordination, high-handedness and arrogance on the part of the suspended NPA MD, including favoritism in some cases.
Also, non-compliance with extant laws and rules guiding the Authority, in respect to contracts (process, terms, award and termination), as well as the administrative strategies adopted in the day to day running of the NPA, would be examined closely. There is also the issue of non-compliance with presidential directives and overriding communication channels obtainable in the Public Service.
The administrative probe panel seems not to be bothered and distracted by the daily barrage of propaganda for or against the suspended MD, but would focus on the inquiry, guided by the terms of reference in its setup, as approved by the President and the Ministry of Transportation.
Let the probe begin

QUOTE: NPA under Hadiza was said to have blatantly contravened government policy on the implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and its records relating to CSR fell short of the level of compliance with the Public Procurement Act, 2007. Procedures were said to have been flagrantly violated while huge expenditures running into billions of naira could not be justified