The suspended Managing Director of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala Usman said the allegations of financial misappropriation levelled against her are false.

Usman in a letter to the Chief of Staff to the president, Amb. Ibrahim Gambari, dated May 5, a copy of which was made available to our correspondent , said the figures provided by the Budget Office of the Federation as the operating surplus for the respective years on which basis they arrived at the shortfall were derived from submission of budgetary provision and not the actual amounts derived following the statutory audit of the authorities financial statements.

She stated remittances of audited financial statements of the authority for the period 2017 and 2018 provided operating surpluses of N76.782 billion and N71.480 billion for 2017 and 2018, respectively, contrary to the sums of N133.084 billion and N88.79 billion arrived at by the office from the budgetary submission.

She said in line with the template issued by the Fiscal Responsibility Commission, the accessible Operating Surplus of the Authority stands at N51.09 billion and N42.51 billion for 2017 and 2018 respectively, adding that this amounts will give rise to a remittance due to the CFR in the sum of N40.873biIIion and N34.065 billion which represents 80% of the surpluses for the year 2017 and 2018 respectively.

“Accordingly, the authority consequently made a remittance of N42.415 billion and N33.969 billion for the years 2017 and 2018 respectively for the full amount required as remittance for the period (attached herewith are the treasury receipts).

“Based on the above, we wish to clarify the following: (1) The Authority’s computation of its remittances to the CFR are concluded arising from numbers from Audited Financial Statements using the template forwarded to the Authority from the Fiscal Responsibility Commission.

“That the Authority has remitted the full amount due it to CFR for the periods 2017 and 2018 arising from the Operating Surplus derived from the Audited Financial Statement for the period totalling N 76.384 billion as evidenced in attached treasury receipts.

“That the Authority has remitted a total of N 82.687 billion for the period 2019 and 2020 pending the audit of the financial statement at which point the amount so computed arising from the value of the Operating Surplus in the audited financial statement will be remitted to the CFR” she added.

Usman further hinted that she wish to request that the Chief of Staff requests the Office of the Accountant- General of the Federation which is the statutorily custodian of status of payment to the CRF to provide clarification on the above so as to establish the true position of the Authorities’ remittances to the CFR.

No fewer than , 15 people have died in a boat mishap in Tijana, Munya Local Government Area of Niger State while several others are still missing.

The boat mishap occurred at about 6:00 pm on Saturday when the villagers were returning from a local market in Zumba, in Shiroro Local Government Area of the state.

The Sarkin Kasuwan (Head of the Market) of Zumba, Mallam Adamu Ahmed, who confirmed the incident to our correspondent said the local boat was carrying over 60 people, including women and children when it capsized due to a heavy windstorm.

Among the victims were some returnees who had earlier fled their homes with their children due to bandits’ attacks.

Ahmed said 17 people have been rescued alive through the efforts of local divers who swung into action immediately after the incident was reported.

The local divers had defied the heavy downpour to continue their rescue operation as at the time of filing this reports as no help yet from the government.

Recall that a similar boat mishap in the area claimed 13 lives in 2017 when a boat carrying 30 people capsized midway into their journey to the same Zumba market.

Our Correspondent reliably gathered that the villagers were returning from a local market in Zumba in Shiroro local government area of the state when the boat capsized.

It was further gathered that the boat must have been overloaded as it was carrying no fewer than sixty passengers which were mostly women and children.

Heavy windstorm was also attributed to the ugly incident.

Speaking on the development, the Sarkin Kasuwan (Head of the Market) of Zumba, Mallam Adamu Ahme said part of the victims were part of the villagers who fled their different communities after bandits had recently sacked them from their ancestral homes.

He said , “the boat was carrying no fewer than sixty passengers and there was heavy windstorm and these two factors may have contributed to the fatality.”

Already,17 people have been rescued alive through the efforts of local divers who swung into action immediately the incident was reported and they are still on the rescue operation of several others,” he remarked.

Newsfocusng gathered that the suspension of the Managing Director of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala Usman, is causing ripples in the Presidency.

Recall that Hadiza was asked to step aside on Thursday while an administrative panel examines the books of the organisation.

Although the Presidency which ordered the suspension gave no reason for its action, sources said it has to do with the alleged non-remittance of N165.3 billion surpluses of the NPA into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) by the suspended MD.

Meanwhile, barely 48 hours after the announcement of the suspension, pressure is being piled on President Muhammadu Buhari by some stakeholders for the appointment of a co-chairman or alternate chairman for the probe panel.

Some governors who are pleading Hadiza’s case with the Presidency are said to have accused Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi of violating administrative procedure in getting the MD suspended and in the composition of the probe panel.

The stakeholders are also objecting to the appointment of all members of the panel coming from the Ministry of Transportation.

Following agitation for fairness, Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi was said to have approved a seven-man probe panel yesterday with three members from the ministry and the remaining four to be nominated by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.

Besides, supporters of the suspended Managing Director of NPA have rejected the choice of the agency’s Executive Director of Finance and Administration, Mohammed Kolo, as acting MD.

They want Kolo dropped and returned to his desk as Executive Director because he was a nominee of Amaechi.

It was learnt that Kolo was not affected by the shake-up because Procurement Unit has been relocated to the office of the Managing Director.

Reliable sources said the division in the Presidency and government over the suspension of Hadiza stemmed from alleged support Hadiza enjoys from the President’s Chief of Staff, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari.

It was Gambari who wrote a memo to Buhari for the renewal of the tenure of Hadiza as MD of NPA on January 21.

It was learnt that Gambari acted without any recommendation for renewal from the Transportation Minister or the supervising Minister of State, Senator Gbemisola Saraki.

A source in government however said the Chief of Staff only raised the memo in line with the prerogative of the President to make any appointment.

One source said appointment and reappointment of any public officer can be done directly by the President.

An angry Amaechi however protested to the President alleging that the Chief of Staff was usurping his (Amaechi’s) duties.

In retaliation, Amaechi also took his memo on the unremitted N165.3 billion surpluses and request for the auditing of NPA to the President without routing it through the Chief of Staff.

Although Gambari later conveyed the letter of suspension of Hadiza to Amaechi, a source said “it was a burden he could not resist because it was a presidential directive.”

Despite the cracks, Hadiza was battling for survival last night with clarifications that all audit certified surpluses were remitted into the CRF.

Buhari had suspended Hadiza through a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu.

The statement said the President also approved the recommendation of the Ministry of Transportation for the setting up of an Administrative Panel of Inquiry to investigate the management of the NPA.

It said the panel is to be headed by the Director, Maritime Services of the Ministry while the Deputy Director, Legal of the same ministry will serve as Secretary.