BY Jemilat Nasiru
The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has described as untrue reports that it withheld the 2017 operating surplus meant to be submitted to the consolidated federation account.
NPA said this in reaction to allegations from the senate that the agency failed to remit N117 billion to the account.
During plenary on Wednesday, Mohammed Hassan, a member of the senate committee on marine transport, drew the attention of the house to the allegation through a motion moved in accordance with senate standing orders 42 and 52.
According to Hassan, the committee discovered that the agency, in its budget defence of the performance of the 2017 budget in April, got N303 billion as total operational revenue out of which N125billion was taken by it as operational cost as allowed by extant laws.
He alleged that the NPA, however, refused to remit the balance of N177 billion realised as surplus to the federation account.
Senate President Bukola Saraki asked the committee to look into the allegation and report back within three days.
Reacting in a statement on Thursday, the NPA said while it accrued a total of N303.9 billion, its total expenditure was N205.8bn as against Hassan’s N125bn claim.
It explained that out of the balance of N98.1bn, N60.12bn represents uncollectable revenue from concessionaires, while it paid N30.4bn into the federation account.
“The attention of the management of the Nigerian Ports Authority has been drawn to newspaper reports alleging that the Authority has failed to remit the sum of N177b Operating Surplus from its 2017 revenue to the Consolidated Federation Account,” the statement read.
“The allegation, according to the reports, emanated from discussions that followed a motion at the Plenary of the Senate on Wednesday, November 28, 2018..
“With due respect to our distinguished Senator, the Authority wishes to state that this allegation is without foundation. The fact of the situation are as follows:
“Total Revenue generated by the Authority in the Year 2017 stood at N303.9bn
“Total expenditure (inclusive of recurrent and capital) amounted to N205.8bn
“Of the N303.9bn generated revenue, the sum of N60.12bn represents uncollectable revenue from concessionaires attributed to clauses in the concession agreements, which the authority is currently reviewing.
“Consequently, the operating surplus for the authority in 2017 was the sum of N38bn
“Therefore, the sum of N30.4bn, which represents 80% of the operating surplus that the Authority is required to remit to the CRF in line with the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007, has been duly paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund by the Authority with receipt of payment already issued by the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.
“The Authority wishes to state its readiness to present all documents needed to provide clarification to the Senate Committee on Marine Transport and the Senate.
“On a final note, while we appreciate the constitutional oversight role of distinguished senators on the operations of the NPA, we suggest greater restraint on issues that deal with the integrity of national institutions even as we assure of our respect for the Senate.”
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