Since 2016, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has openly exhibited readiness to public scrutiny of its finances, said Hadiza Bala-Usman, the suspended managing director of the authority.
Usman, who stated this on Monday in reaction to allegations by Senator Binta Garba that the suspended MD plotted her removal from NPA Board for demanding inquiries on the finances of the NPA, described the Senator’ claims as falsehood.
According to her, NPA during her leadership signed Memorandum of Understanding with BUdgit Open Budget System Platform for the Implementation of a Public Data Dissemination programme.
“We publish the tariff regime of the Authority on the website for the whole world to see in line with the vision of transparency and accountability. We conducted the statutory audit of the backlog of the Authority’s financial statements for 2013-2016, and presented the same for approval and submission to the appropriate quarters. Also, NPA engaged international renowned auditing firms for the audit of its financial statements up until 2019 with full compliance to all Nigerian laws and the International Financial Reporting Standards. The 2020 financial statement is currently being audited,” she explained.
Read Also: Nigeria suspends issuance of new passports till June 1
While stating that the Senator gave herself away as someone who came to the board of the Authority to destabilise rather than contribute to its development, Usman said there was nothing substantial in Garba’s allegations.
“There are a few questions to ask the Senator: When the Auditors presented the financial statement to the finance committee of which she was a member, did she seek clarifications on areas that seemed opaqued or suspicious? If she did what happened? If she was not satisfied with the answers provided by the Auditors, why did she not consider withholding assent to the statement? Why did she not formally document her discontent? Why did she not issue a minority opinion on the statement, instead of now speaking after the fact?” Usman questioned the senator.
Continuing, she further assured that: “While I concede to Senator Binta Garba’s right to whatever opinion she desires concerning our relationship when she was a member of NPA board, may I remind her that those who allow themselves to be used to malign innocent people have their own days of reckoning waiting for them.”
