NPA’s Battle Royale

Ibrahim Bio, Transport Minister.

The battle for the ‘soul’ of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) rages, as Ibrahim Bio, Transport Minister, accuses its helmsman of mismanagement
By Bayo Bernard
For Ibrahim Bio, Transport Minister and the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Abdul-Salam Mohammed, it does appear as though their battle of supremacy is not about to end anytime soon. The crisis of confidence between the two government officials can well be described as a situation where two captains are trying to assert authority on the same ship.What started like a child’s play, according to those close to the two gladiators, has degenerated to the extent that both men now avoid seeing eye-to-eye. The NPA, as it were, is the Technical Regulatory Agency of the Maritime sector and a parastatal under the ministry. To that extent, experts insist, a synergy must exist for policy formulation and implementation for the purpose of moving the industry forward. But that is not to be as the two powerful officials have continued to engage each other in a battle of wits–a situation considered by stakeholders to be injurious to the growth of the sector. At the centre of the crisis, sources say, is the management style of the NPA boss, which the Transport Minister is said not to be very happy with.
To underscore the acrimony that exists between the parties, the Minister had made sure that he shuns most programmes organised by the NPA, as he most often delegates other officials of the ministry to represent him at such occasions.
NPA sources say the issue has taken a toll on the activities of the Agency, as some vital issues that require the attention and co-operation of the minister are most often sacrificed because of the bitter rivalry.
The ripple effect is that the policies needed to develop the sector cannot be formulated, even as the industry continues to suffer because of lack of direction.
The chain of communication, sources also say, has been drastically reduced since last year, after the minister was said to have made what was considered an uncomplimentary statement against the NPA boss over the manner the multi-billion naira Calabar Port dredging contract was managed by the Authority. The minister had sometimes last year told journalists that the contract was a scam.
Bio had expressed reservations over the role played by the Mohammed - led NPA over a dredging contract awarded to two Dutch companies- Van Oord Nigeria Limited and Jan-de-Nul. To the minister’s reckoning, the NPA which is statutorily empowered to supervise the contract failed in its official duties.
Though the contract was awarded under the Adebayo Sarumi-led management, Bio was said to have frowned at the negligence of the current management, by not making sure that the contractors execute the contract diligently. He was particularly said to have been miffed by payments made to the contractors, despite the fact that the two Dutch companies have vacated site.
The companies were awarded the contract to dredge 80 nautical kilometers long and 150 meters water channel leading to the port Complex. The contract was shared on the basis of 40 kilometers to Van Oord, while Jan-de-Nul was awarded 44 kilometers of the contract.
At the time the Transport Minister took a swipe on the NPA boss– an action said to have ruffled top management staff of the Agency– the two contractors had already been paid a whopping N14 billion, even though the job done was not deemed satisfactory by the Ministry, over three years after the contract was awarded.
Bio’s indictment of the NPA, as it were, came on the heels of condemnations from the sector on renewed plans to re-award the contracts at the time. Besides, the NPA management was said to have shortlisted the two erring contractors among those to be re-awarded the contract.
The Transport Minister described the action of the NPA as economic imprudence and barely came short of labelling the management under Mohammed as a prodigal son, because according to him the manner the contract was executed has shown that “we are pound foolish.”
Indeed, because of the economic importance of the Calabar Port, the minister was said to have agreed with the NPA’s recommendation of the need to re-award the contract.
Bio: “We are going to re-award the contracts afresh, because what had been done by the two contractors must have been taken over by silt from the undredged portion.”
However, several months after Bio’s assurance, the contract is yet to be awarded. This, according to reliable sources, may not be unconnected with failure by the parties to agree on the modalities to be adopted. Apart from this, the communication gap between the two top officials was said to have increased drastically.
For example, the Minister, very reliable NPA sources say, has continued to maintain a cosiderable distance from the NPA boss, as he most times delegates his subordinates to intermediate with the Agency.
“There are situations that may warrant that the Managing Director meet with the minister to discuss critical issuess, especially urgent matters that require express attention, but because the two don’t see eyeball-to-eyeball you will agree with me that actions on such issues might be delayed. In fact, most of the programmes organised by the Authority last year were not attended by the minister, even though he was invited, and by virtue of his office, he was supposed to identify with such events. And usually, you know that such events are meant to bring these top officials together, so that they can discuss issues affecting the two bodies,” a top NPA official told The Source last week on condition of anonymity.
Those who know insist that the cat- and-mouse game which started shortly after the former Speaker of Kwara State House of Assembly took charge in the ministry, has degenerated since mid-last year after Bio, in a dramatic manner accused the Mohammed - led NPA of mismanagement over the Calabar Port contract scandal.
Throughout last year, another NPA source said, the minister has formed the habit of delegating the ministry’s permanent secretary to represent him during functions organised by the Agency, in order to keep his distance from the NPA boss.
The acrimony, to stakeholders' surprise, has been carried into the new year as both parties appear not ready to resolve their differences. Instructively, the NPA boss has on his own refused to admit that he is having a running battle with his boss, even though his aides and close associates admit that inside him (Mohammed) lies a deep-seated acrimony against the minister.
The minister on his own part does not allow any opportunity pass without questioning the ability of the NPA boss to provide the kind of leadership required to pilot the affairs of the Authority.
In what is considered by stakeholders as the latest in the seemingly unending battle of supremacy between the two top officials, the minister, few days ago, during a chat with journalists blamed the woes of the nation’s ports on a lack of vision on the part of the NPA boss and his management team. The minister explained that the Mohammed-led NPA management does not have what it takes to change the face of Nigeria’s maritime industry.
According to him, all efforts to get the NPA draw a master plan for the development of the industry have been frustrated, adding that all efforts by his ministry to synergise with the Agency on the matter have been rebuffed. The result, he said, is the state of inertia currently being experienced in the industry.
Particularly, the minister noted that the NPA team has refused to address the problem of port congestion. He explained that despite increase in cargo volumes over the years, no effort is being made to expand the Ports facility. He lamented that the Ports have been taken over by encroachers without the Agency doing anything about the matter.
His words: “We are all aware that both the Apapa and Tin Can Island Ports have been choked up. Lagos has grown and has almost circled the Ports and yet there is no expansion. The Ports are still the same way we have known them over 30years ago, and it appears NPA has no port development plan for expansion and infrastructural development.”
In what was considered as a veiled description of the relationship deficit between the minister and Mohammed, Bio accused the NPA boss of not carrying him along in running of the affairs of the Agency.
Bio: “I thought we could put NPA in that part of good planning and have a structured way of doing things, but unfortunately I have not been able to see any positive body language from NPA.”
In the latest salvo which he fired against the NPA boss, Bio accused the Agency of mismanagement. He noted that NPA has become a drain-pipe for government resources, adding that the enormous revenue accruing to the Agency was being mismanaged and unaccounted for. “Money is made, money is spent, no capital investments. What they (NPA) engages in is tours, trips, seminars and all sorts of things,” the minister stated.
Last year when the minister publicly cried out against the alleged shoddy manner in which the multi-billion naira Calabar Port dredging contract was handled by the NPA, some notable people were said to have prevailed on him to give the Mohammed-led team a respite. According to sources, some top government functionaries and politicians were said to have cautioned the minister to stop washing the NPA’s dirty linen in public. Such matters, they reckoned, are better resolved amicably so that it doesn’t end up bringing ridicule on the government.
But as it turned out, it appears the minister only accepted the ‘elders’ counsel for the time being as before long he brought the issue back to the front burner.
Ministry sources say the reason why the minister has refused to allow the proverbial sleeping dog to rest is partly for self-defence, as doing so might help the government consider probing the issue, which at the end of the day may result in the indictment of the Mohammed-led management. The minister, sources insist, also wants to raise public awareness on the economic importance of the Port, and the need to re-award the contract, without causing attendant public outcry that earlier greeted the issue when the government tried to re-award the contract.
Hear the minister’s latest comment on the controversial Calabar Port contract: “Calabar Port is one of the bad–if there is anything called ‘baddest’–projects I have ever seen in my life. The project was badly conceived. It was a very good project. but was badly conceived by my predecessors. This was a project whose design, feasibility study and survey were done in 2002 and the project was not awarded until 2009.”
Though the project was conceived by Mohammed’s predecessors, the current NPA management awarded the contract.
All efforts by The Source to make Musa Iliya, NPA’s image maker comment on the issue last week failed, as his telephone line was totally out of reach. However, a top official of the parastatal told The Source, in confidence, that the two gladiators remain like “water and oil that cannot be made to mix.”