The Minority Caucus in the House of Representatives has called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the suspended Managing Director of the Nigerian Port Authority, Hadiza Bala Usman over alleged mismanagement of N165 billion.
The Caucus disclosed this in a
statement signed on Monday by the Minority Leader of the House of
Representatives, Honourable Ndudi Elumelu.
They insisted that such huge
economic crime against the nation should not be left to an administrative panel
of enquiry, but committed to an anti-graft agency for an independent
investigation.
It, therefore asked the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to immediately “take in the indicted
Managing Director, Hadiza Bala Usman, and commence a system-wide investigation
with a view to prosecuting her, if found wanting”.
“Our Caucus holds that the mere
suspension of the indicted Managing Director of the NPA, Hadiza Bala Usman, and
the resort to an administrative panel of enquiry even after the report by the
Supervising Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, exposed an unremitted and
possibly diverted operating surplus of N165 billion, amounts romancing and
perfuming corruption by the APC-led Federal Government.
“The Minority Caucus also
believes that the recourse to an administrative instead of a full-scale
criminal investigation can only serve as a decoy to shield some other APC
government officials involved in the looting spree at NPA and other affiliated
agencies in the transport sector,” the statement read in part.
The lawmakers expressed concerns
that by committing the alleged NPA looting to an administrative panel,
political manipulations and partisan influences had taken precedence over what
should have been a system-wide investigation into a monumental fraud.
“This is because, apart from the
unremitted N165 billion cited by the Minister, other documents and reports from
the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation had also uncovered several
sleazes, including unremitted deduction to Federal Inland Revenue Service
(FIRS) amounting to N3,667,750,470. $148,845,745.04, Euro 4,891,449.50 and
£252,682.14.
“This is in addition to audit
query of N15.18 billion allegedly stolen through inflated Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) projects/programmes under the watch of the suspended NPA
Managing Director.
“As representatives of the suffering
people of Nigeria, our Caucus is particularly very worried that such monumental
lootings are going on at a time terrorists, bandits, unknown gunmen, and
criminal militias are reigning supreme across the length and breadth of the
country and life has consequently become the cheapest article in the country,”
the lawmakers said.
They added that such resources
if channelled to the security sector and well managed would have made a world
of difference in addressing the problem of insecurity in the country.
Source: channelstv.com
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