TheCable

Hadiza Bala Usman, managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, says Integrated Logistics Services Limited (Intels) decides what percentage of revenue generated at the ports to remit to the federal government.

The MD made this known when she appeared before a house of representatives adhoc committee on Wednesday.

Intels signed an agreement with NPA in 2010, which allowed the firm collect revenue on behalf of the federal government agency on some port operations.

She said the agreement was silent on the sharing formula of the revenue generated by the firm.

Bala Usman told the committee that the agreement she met on assuming duties at the NPA in 2016 allowed Intels to take 28 percent of the generated revenue for its services.

“The agreement was silent on this aspect. There was nothing suggesting how the balance would be shared. So, this gave Intels the power to decide what share to leave for the government and so on,” she said.

According to the NPA MD, the average monthly remittance by Intels in 2013 was $3 million, a figure that later increased to $5.6 million in 2014 and dropped to $4 million in subsequent years.

She told the committee that a dispute arose between the NPA and Intels in June 2016 after the firm refused to comply with the treasury single account policy of the government.

“Intels declined and chose to continue to keep the revenue. In May 2017, we sought the advice of the attorney-general of the fderation (Abubakar Malami), who appropriately advised that Intels must comply with the TSA policy or the contract should be terminated,” she said.

“Based on the advice of the AGF, a notice of termination was issued to Intels.”

Bala Usman said Intels later apologised to the NPA and agreed to comply with the TSA policy.

“So, since September 2017, Intels started complying with the policy, though we have not received the advice of the AGF on the withdrawal of the termination. But, they have been complying since September 2017. Between 2016 and 2017, Intels had collected $48m,” she said.

She said the NPA has confirmed the remittance of $28.1m into the TSA, while another payment of $14.5m reported by Intels had yet to be confirmed.