NPA’s Hadiza Usman: Amaechi Skirted Key Issues in THISDAY Interview by Louis Achi

Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi seems to have capitalised on his closeness to President Muhammadu Buhari to misinform him and unfairly unhorse the former Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Hadiza Bala Usman who served from 2016 to 2021. Worse, Amaechi deliberately missed the opportunity to come clean on this subject matter in his recent interview with THISDAY. Let’s contextualise the issues. Officials who occupy public offices in Nigeria ought to approach such responsibilities with a certain sense of history, vision and fairness. Perusing Transport Minister Amaechi’s responses to questions on his grouse with the management of NPA in his interview with THISDAY published last Monday, certainly spawns considerable concerns about how Nigeria can genuinely progress and take her position on the continent. To hear the minister claim he had no clue about the goings-on in the agency for the past five years remains a curious disappointment. One comes away with the thought that these government officials must take Nigerians for simpletons incapable of distinguishing between their left and right hands. How is it possible that a minister of Amaechi’s influence and imperious disposition would remain oblivious of the activities of an agency under him? But more than that and with privileged information one knows that the Minister was being less than honest. In justifying the six-month long probe of the affairs of NPA, (which he hinted may last for the rest of this administration) Amaechi said: “… The panel has not finished. They are investigating five years. One year alone will take them 10 months. But have it at the back of your mind that all we are doing is going through what happened in NPA for the five years that I never knew anything about NPA…” He also claimed to be oblivious of the dispute between NPA and the Integrated Nigeria Logistics Limited (INTELS), saying: “We never even knew there was a crisis between INTELS and NPA.” Reflecting on this now, one finds it so absurd that the Minister of Transportation would make such spurious claims when the unabating misunderstanding between NPA and INTELS was public knowledge. On INTELS, a report in Friday’s edition of THISDAY indicated that industry players have always held the opinion that the minister has a strong relationship with the company. According to THISDAY, a source at the NPA volunteered that the minister vehemently opposed the removal of INTELS’s monopoly on the discharge of oil and gas cargo in their terminals. “The reversal of this monopoly, which he had opposed until he was overridden by the Attorney General of the Federation, Mallam Abubakar Malami, SAN, led to the Egina FSPSO received at the LADOL Terminal in Lagos, saving the country millions of dollars. The removal of the monopoly also saved Shell Nigeria Exploration & Production Company of exploration cost of over 1 billion USD for OML 18 and 40% of operation costs amounting to 15 million USD per annum. The company conveyed this information, which commended the NPA via a letter dated 4th June, 2018,” the report further stated. More, Amaechi also claimed that NPA violated due process on the issue of the public tender of the Service Boat Management Agency. But facts from this THISDAY report tell a different story. The Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) was said to have written the Chief of Staff to the President, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, on March 9, 2021, saying that the Minister’s submission seeking Presidential approval of the reinstatement of the expired contract to INTELS, without due process was not in the interest of the federal government. The report further claimed that that BPP recommended that the public tender process initiated by the NPA, (in which INTELS participated), was proper and should be promptly completed! No Knowledge of NPA Activities While the Minister gives the impression that the NPA has been run without deference to the supervising ministry since 2016, available information suggests the agency neither executed projects nor took decisions for which regulations required it to seek ministerial approval without seeking and obtaining same. If that were not so, who then has been presenting NPA memos to the Federal Executive Council (FEC)? How has the agency also been able to satisfy its procurement requirements above the parastatal’s tenders board threshold of N50m for goods and services and N250m. Didn’t these requests come to the ministerial tenders’ board, after which the Minister presents to them FEC? Records reveal at least 25 NPA memos that the minister presented to FEC within the period he claims not to know what NPA was doing. Even NPA’s annual budget proposals are forwarded to the Minister for his review and onward transmission to the national budget office. The ministry also has a representative on the Board of NPA whose responsibility is to brief the minister on the activities of the agency adequately. So how can Amaechi claim not to know what has been happening in the agency? Dredging Further, Amaechi’s claims of instructing the NPA to procure dredging equipment to replace the Joint Venture arrangement in 2019 is also incorrect. The minister apparently introduced the equipment purchase directive via a letter dated February 2, 2021, after the BPP rejected his directive that the NPA should extend the JV partnership for one year. From available documents, when he gave the directive for the extension of the JV for one year, the NPA wrote to the BPP requesting for “no objection” to extend the contract for one year as directed by the Minister. This request was declined by BPP on the strength of the fact that it was against the country’s interest and that the Authority should proceed to conduct a public tender for the JV partner. It was when the Minister was notified about this development, that he directed the Authority to procure the dredgers and provide information about wreck removal costs instead of proceeding with the tender as directed by the BPP. There are no records anywhere in NPA where he gave such directive in 2019, all this was done after his idea for the extension was shut down by the BPP. Amaechi claimed that refusing to obey a non-existent instruction he gave in 2019 was responsible for the exorbitant cost of the equipment currently, but this was always going to be a penny-wise, pounds foolish venture. From available facts, the Authority will need to purchase a minimum of four dredgers and other equipment to maintain the channel. The cost outlay for the equipment, according to a source is as follows: Jumbo Trailing suction Dredger: 200 million Euros; Medium trailing suction hopper dredger: 100 million Euro; Cutter suction dredger: 150 million Euro; Multicart: 10 million Euro. In addition to the cost of procuring them, the authority will require running cost and maintenance cost. Whereas with the JV, the technical partner who are professional international dredging companies use their existing dredgers which they already have in their pool for deployment as and when needed. Exclusivity As part of his commitment to paint the management of the NPA under Hadiza Bala Usman black, Amaechi alluded to an illegal exclusive supplemental agreement at the Lekki Deep Sea Port, sources explained that the authority took the decision in the best interest of the nation. But the fact of the matter is that the promoters of Lekki Deep Sea Port requested for NPA’s approval to move the construction of their dry bulk cargo terminal from the phase one of the construction of the Port to phase two. This they stated was because dry bulk cargo has declined in Nigeria due to the prohibition of importation of certain dry cargo types ie cement, rice etc and the further global push for palletisation of cargo, has made dry bulk cargo more containerised. The phase two of the project is to commence when cargo throughput of the Port exceeds 1.2million TEUs per annum for 2 consecutive years or not later than 15 years whichever is earlier. And based on the Lekki Port Concession agreement, the Lekki Port has exclusivity on Container and dry bulk port terminal development in Lagos area for 15 years or when they exceed 1.2million TEUs for 2 consecutive years. The Authority, upon consideration noted that the challenges presented by the Promoters on the viability of the dry bulk terminal is correct and granted them the approval to reschedule the development of the dry bulk terminal to phase two but required that they waive their exclusivity on the development of dry bulk terminal in the Lagos area. That way, if any other developer wishes to build a dry bulk terminal in the Lagos area, they can be considered. The most important point to make here is that the minister’s approval was not needed for this request since the Authority has a sitting Governing Board. Most importantly the decision was taken in the country’s interest. Suspension The minister has always tried to make light of the suspension of Managing Director of the NPA, Hadiza Bala Usman. When he is not denying that Bala Usman was only asked to step aside and not suspended, he is suggesting that the decision was taken by President Buhari. He took both positions in the THISDAY interview but there are two questions to ask the minister: did the President just wake up one day and announce the lady’s suspension without any input from him? And most importantly, do Public Service Regulations (CSR) have any provision for asking anyone to “step aside?” If not, what is the legal basis of asking the MD to step aside when there is no such provision? On NPA’s alleged refusal to implement approvals, the truth is that the only approval the minister obtained from the President that was not implemented was the one concerning reinstating INTELS’ expired contract. And this approval was withdrawn by the President himself! The President thereafter directed the Attorney General of the Federation to provide him a legal opinion on the legality of reinstating an expired contract outside the Public Procurement process. That legal opinion from the AGF is what stalled the implementation of his approval and not the Panel of Inquiry, contrary to what the minister wants Nigerians to believe. He simply cannot take any action because that approval had been withdrawn while everyone awaits the AGF’s advice to the President. It is hoped that the minister realises that the longer this uncertainty at the NPA goes, the more awkward the situation becomes. His letter to the President also referred to a memorandum of insubordination by the NPA management, but the MD, who has been asked to step aside never received such memo, which would have been in the form of a query stating the act of insubordination and asking for an explanation within a stipulated time. No such letter was said to have been received at the NPA. The minister also pretended the appointment of the Executive Director Finance and Administration to act as Managing Director was without any prejudice. Why then was his letter to the President silent about the title of the person he requested to act; why just mention his name? Amaechi just seems to have capitalised on his closeness to the President to manipulate him. Transformative governance certainly needs to go beyond such narrowness and deliberate misinformation.

Singaporean, French firms, Bi-Courtney, 10 others jostle for Nigeria’s four int’l airports. by Oyetunji Abioye

Murtala Muhammad International Airport, Lagos A total of 13 airport consortia, comprising local and foreign companies, have submitted bids to be prequalified for the planned concession of four Nigerian international airports, The PUNCH has learnt. This came as the Independent Concession and Regulatory Commission last week began the evaluation of the applications submitted by the companies seeking to be pre-qualified for the airport concession process. The Federal Government had on October 15, 2021 closed the Request for Qualifications for the concession of four international airports, namely the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos; the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja; Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano; and the Port Harcourt International Airport. The spokesperson for the ICRC, Mrs Manji Yarling, in an exclusive interview with The PUNCH on Friday, disclosed that 13 companies submitted their RFQs before the closure of the exercise on October 25. She declined to give further details, including the names of the local and foreign companies that submitted RFQs for the concession. Yarling referred our correspondent to the Federal Ministry of Aviation for further details. However, the Director of Communications, Federal Ministry of Aviation, Mr James Odaudu, said the ministry could not speak on the ongoing concession process, saying the transaction advisers for the concession would give more details at the appropriate time. However, investigation by The PUNCH revealed that Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited, operators of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Terminal Two, Lagos, was among the firms that submitted the RFQs for the airport concession programme. Also, Maevis Nigeria Limited, a former concessionaire with the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, was also among the bidders. Others, according to findings, include operators of the Singapore’s Changi Airport, operators of France’s Charles de Gaulle Airport, and operators of Ethiopia’s Airport. Impeccable sources close to the development said local companies that applied for the concession formed consortia with foreign partners while global reputable airport managers, which also submitted their RFQs, formed alliance with some local partners in order to meet the local content requirement of the Federal Government. “So far, there are notable and globally reputable airport companies and consortia which have applied for the RFQs. Some of the foreign companies formed consortia with local companies to meet the local content requirement while local companies have foreign technical partners,” an official close to the development told our correspondent on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter. Meanwhile, the ICRC has begun the evaluation of the RFQs, according to its spokesperson, Yarling. She said the evaluation began on Wednesday but did not disclose how long it would last. Findings by The PUNCH revealed that the ICRC was established to superintend and regulate public-private partnership endeavours of the Federal Government aimed at addressing Nigeria’s physical infrastructure deficit, which hampers economic development. The strategic objective of the ICRC is to accelerate investment in national infrastructure through private sector funding by enabling the Federal Government and its ministries, departments, and agencies to establish and implement effective PPPs. The Federal Government had in August opened the bidding process for the concession of the four major international airport terminals in the country. It also said the Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano airports would be on concession for a minimum of 20 to 30 years. The Ministry of Aviation said the concession applied to the non-aeronautic assets of the airports located in the passenger and cargo terminals. It said these comprised the assets from the entry door of the airport to the point of embarking and disembarking from an aircraft to the exit doors. The ministry explained that this space commonly referred to as the passenger terminal comprised retail spaces, waiting and seating areas, airport and airline lounges, baggage collection, check-in counters as well as administrative offices. It added that the cargo terminals comprised the facilities between the point of entry and up to loading and off-loading points, including administrative offices within said facilities. The government has assured FAAN workers that none of them would lose their jobs, but aviation unions have continued to kick against the proposed concession. PUNCH.

US President, Biden Writes Congress, Goes On Medical Leave As Harris Becomes First Woman To Hold Office. BY SAHARAREPORTERS

US President, Biden Writes Congress, Goes On Medical Leave As Harris Becomes First Woman To Hold Office Meanwhile, Kamala Harris became the first woman in the history of the United States to wield presidential power as Biden undergoes medical treatment. President Joe Biden of the United States has written to the Congress, informing them of his medical leave and seeking permission for his routine treatment. In Biden’s letter addressed to the Congress through Patrick Leahy, and obtained by SaharaReporters, the President his Vice President shall discharge those powers and duties as Acting President until I transmit to you a written declaration that I am able to resume the discharge of those powers and duties.” He said, “Dear Senator Leahy; today I will undergo a routine medical procedure requiring sedation. In view of present circumstances, I have determined to transfer temporarily the powers and duties of the office of President of the United States to the Vice President during the brief period of the procedure and recovery. “In accordance with the provisions of section 3 of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, this letter shall constitute my written declaration that I am presently unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office of the President of the United States. Pursuant to section 3, the Vice President shall discharge those powers and duties as Acting President until I transmit to you a written declaration that I am able to resume the discharge of those powers and duties.” Meanwhile, Kamala Harris became the first woman in the history of the United States to wield presidential power as Biden undergoes medical treatment. In a statement on Friday, White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, said Biden is under anaesthesia for a routine colonoscopy. The president had arrived at the Walter Reed Medical Center in the early hours of the day to undergo his first routine annual physical since taking office. By law, it is routine for a vice president to assume presidential powers while the president undergoes a medical procedure that requires anaesthesia. Recall that former Vice President Dick Cheney also served as acting president on multiple occasions when George W. Bush, erstwhile president, also underwent routine colonoscopies. According to section 3 of the 25th Amendment to the US Constitution, the President can send a letter to the speaker of the House of Representatives and the president of the Senate to notify the two chambers of inability to discharge his statutory obligations for a given period of time. The constitution states that the president must declare that he's "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President." The development further stretches the impressive records of Harris since she came to power. She is currently the female vice-president in US history and the first black to hold office. Harris is also the first South Asian to become US vice-president. In the statement, Psaki said Harris will work from her office in the West Wing while Biden, who turns 79 on Saturday, is under anaesthesia. Biden is currently the oldest first-term president in US history.

US removes Nigeria from religious violators’ list by Kayode Oyero

Buhari, Blinken The United States has removed Nigeria from its list of religious violators, even as it blacklisted Russia, China and eight other countries “as Countries of Particular Concern for having engaged in or tolerated ‘systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made this known in a statement on Wednesday titled, ‘Religious Freedom Designations’. While the US had in 2020 placed Nigeria and six other countries on its special watch list of states that had engaged in or tolerated the severe violation of religious freedom, Nigeria was missing from the list of countries designated in the 2021 list for religious violations. Blinken, who is currently in East African nation Kenya on an official visit, is scheduled to physically visit Nigeria this week and meet with the Nigerian President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and other members of his cabinet. The US Secretary of State, in his statement on Wednesday, said, “The United States will not waiver in its commitment to advocate for freedom of religion or belief for all and in every country. In far too many places around the world, we continue to see governments harass, arrest, threaten, jail, and kill individuals simply for seeking to live their lives in accordance with their beliefs. This Administration is committed to supporting every individual’s right to freedom of religion or belief, including by confronting and combating violators and abusers of this human right. “Each year the Secretary of State has the responsibility to identify governments and non-state actors, who, because of their religious freedom violations, merit designation under the International Religious Freedom Act. “I am designating Burma, the People’s Republic of China, Eritrea, Iran, the DPRK, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan as Countries of Particular Concern for having engaged in or tolerated “systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.” “I am also placing Algeria, Comoros, Cuba, and Nicaragua on a Special Watch List for governments that have engaged in or tolerated “severe violations of religious freedom.” Finally, I am designating al-Shabab, Boko Haram, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Houthis, ISIS, ISIS-Greater Sahara, ISIS-West Africa, Jamaat Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin, and the Taliban as Entities of Particular Concern. “The challenges to religious freedom in the world today are structural, systemic, and deeply entrenched. They exist in every country. They demand sustained global commitment from all who are unwilling to accept hatred, intolerance, and persecution as the status quo. They require the international community’s urgent attention. “We will continue to press all governments to remedy shortcomings in their laws and practices, and to promote accountability for those responsible for abuses. The United States remains committed to working with governments, civil society organizations, and members of religious communities to advance religious freedom around the world and address the plight of individuals and communities facing abuse, harassment, and discrimination on account of what they believe, or what they do not believe.” PUNCH.

US Secretary of State, Blinken, meets with Buhari, Osinbajo at Aso Rock by Stephen Angbulu

US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken and President Buhari The United States of America Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, is currently meeting with the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and the Vice-President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Blinken who arrived at the Presidential Villa a few minutes before 4:00 pm, was received at the forecourt by State Chief of Protocol, Lawal Kazaure, who led him to the President’s office. After he meets with Buhari, the Secretary of State will proceed to the office of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo where they will sign some agreements between Nigeria and the US. He will thereafter address a joint session of the press at the State House Briefing Room. He will be joined by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama. PUNCH.

Malami didn’t force us to convert NNPC funds at N305 per dollar – Keystone Bank denies reports. by Noah Banjo

MD/CEO Keystone Bank, Olaniran Olayinka Keystone Bank has denied reports that the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), forced it to convert the $1 at N305. The reports came after the bank met with the House of Representatives’ Ad Hoc Committee on Assessment and Status of all recovered loots on the Federal Government’s $40 million funds, which were in its custody. In a statement signed by the bank’s General Counsel and Company Secretary, Dr Michael Agamah, Keystone stated that the in question was not a “recovered loot”, but belonged to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. The statement read in part, “The money in issue was not a ‘recovered loot’. The sum involved belonged to NNPC which came into the position of Keystone Bank in the normal and ordinary course of business. “The deposit was subject to mutually agreed terms and conditions, which included repayment terms applicable to other deposits of a similar nature.” Agamah also disclosed that the exchange rate used at the time to convert the $40 million was the official rate, adding that “the parties to this transaction were not at liberty to have recourse to parallel market rates, which is what the trending histrionic reporting appears to be suggesting.” “We did not inform the Ad-hoc Committee during our presentation that the Honorable Attorney General of the Federation ‘forced’ us to ‘convert recovered loot at N305 per dollar’. Such an unduly sensational headline, in our opinion, is a disservice to the profession of journalism, and antithetical to the objectivity and accuracy which responsible reporting is known for. “The processes that culminated in our bank repaying in full, NNPC’s deposits with us are well documented, and based on mutual negotiations between our bank and the owner of the funds. “We reiterate that at no time did we insinuate that the Honorable Attorney General of the Federation acted improperly, forced us to transfer or acted outside the powers of his office. “Our bank has discharged its obligation to its customer under a regular and validated framework, the same way we honour our obligations to all our customers”, the statement added.

EFCC grills MD of First Bank Holdings, Nnamdi Okonkwo by Sodiq Oyeleke

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has reportedly grilled the newly-appointed Managing Director of First Bank of Nigeria Holdings Plc, Nnamdi Okonkwo. It was learnt that Okonkwo’s questioning is not unconnected with his alleged role in the transfer of $153m linked with Nigeria’s former petroleum minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke from the Nigerian National Petroleum Commission. Though there were reports that he was also detained by the anti-corruption agency, details are still sketchy as of the time of filing this report. The EFCC had claimed that Diezani siphoned $153m out of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and stashed it in three banks in the country. The anti-graft agency had in January 2017 claimed that the former Managing Director of Fidelity Bank Plc, Okonkwo, allegedly helped Diezani to take delivery of the money, and kept $40m with the former Executive Director, Public Sector Accountant, First Bank Plc, Mr. Dauda Lawal, in order to conceal the source. On January 6, the EFCC had approached Justice Muslim Hassan and obtained an interim order, directing that the funds be temporarily forfeited to the Federal Government. The banker’s grilling is coming barely three weeks after the announcement by FBN Holdings Plc that Okonkwo will replace Mr U.K. Eke as the group managing director of the company, following the successful completion of Eke’s two-term tenure. The FBN Holdings Plc’s board said in a statement that Eke tendered his notice of retirement was on August 10, 2021. According to the statement, Okonkwo will assume office as the GMD of FBN Holdings Plc effective January 1, 2022 as Eke’s retirement will take effect on December 31, 2021. It had said Okonkwo would bring to bear on the board of FBN Holdings more than 30 years of banking career spanning local and international experience. His appointment is subject to the approval of regulatory authorities, according to the statement. The statement said Okonkwo has a wealth of experience in transformational leadership, business strategy development and visioning, innovative corporate governance, and risk management. It said he had led the transformation of banks, with the most recent being Fidelity Bank, where he led the management team in seven years to achieve remarkable results culminating in tripling profit and shareholder value. PUNCH.