A whopping sum of $5.1 million has been discovered by the leadership of the Nigerian Ports Authority, hidden in Heritage bank .
NPA Managing Director, Hajia Hadiza Bala Usman
The management of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has recovered $5.1million out of the sum of $24.1million it reportedly discovered “hidden” in Heritage Bank upon assuming office in July, ShipsandPorts reports.
This was made public yesterday in Lagos by the NPA Managing Director, Hajia Hadiza Bala Usman who confirmed the return of $5.1million by Heritage Bank into NPA’s Treasury Single Account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). She said efforts were ongoing to retrieve the balance from the bank.
She further revealed that private companies and government agencies owe NPA about N10billion and $585million (N180billion). She however admitted that part of the amount could be classified as bad debt as it had been outstanding for more than 10 years.
She said, “We cannot have contractors collecting our money and not do what is required. We have directed our procurement department to put in place structured framework which will be signed where contractors will be blacklisted from future contracts in the Nigerian Ports Authority and we have also discussed this with the Bureau of Public Procurement to convey our concerns with the fact that we are having contractors that are not performing on their contracts.”
Usman said NPA is facilitating the setting up of a National Single Window to facilitate cargo clearance at the port.