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MAY 14, 2007 VOL. 21. NO 5

Ruining an Agency

**Mfon-Usoro**

At last, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), arrests Mfon Ekong Usoro, director-general of the National Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NAMASA), and two directors of the agency over a N10billion contract scam
By Innocent Chukwu
Mfon Ekong Usoro, boss of the National Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NAMASA), appeared obviously flabbergasted as she was made to jettison her intimidating official aura, including her “fanatic” security details, as she was taken into the custody of officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Usoro was, in fact, full of surprise on Monday, April 30 at the Burma Road, Apapa headquarters of the agency as she was humiliated and led away like a common felon before agitated staffers of the agency.
The reason for the NAMASA matriach’s surprise over her arrest by the anti-corruption agency, The Source gathered, was because before now, she had allegedly boasted that her firm grip on NAMASA was quite tenacious based on her links with the seat of power.
Although The Source had learnt from competent sources at the transport ministry and the EFCC that the NAMASA boss and Chukwuneke C. Ezeala, former director for finance at the agency were to be quizzed by the EFCC penultimate week, they were, however, spared till last Monday, April 30, so as to ensure that both women were arrested at the same time, otherwise, Ezeala who it is alleged possesses a British passport, might escape after hearing of Usoro’s arrest.
Unknown to the duo, the DG, NAMASA maintained the status quo until the EFCC operatives swooped on her. The anti-graft agency had invaded the premises of the agency as early as 9.am and barred journalists form entering the complex. Arriving in a Hiace bus marked BM 501RBC, they (EFCC) headed straight for Usoro’s office where they ransacked all nooks and crannies to unravel incriminating documents. The Source gathered that the Finance and Andit departments were also visited by the dreaded crime bursters.
One of the agency’s staffers who described the scene in a telephone chat with The Source simply painted a picture of pandemonium and fear for the unknown. Although The Source could not ascertain the documents the EFCC carted away, the climax of the day’s operation which reportedly received a presidential nod, was that Usoro, Ezeala and Dr. Adegboyega Dosumu, executive director for finance, were whisked away to the Awolowo Road, Lagos office of the commission.
The EFCC declined to officially disclose the purpose and outcome of the raid, but a dependable EFCC source who craved anonymity told The Source that a “lot of issues are involved, and except they are investigated, no one can say much about their case.” This same source was to however cautiously make allusions pointing to Usoro’s recent indictment by a Federal Government Investigative Committee on NAMASA’s lost funds in failed banks, a $20million belonging to the agency kept in a fixed deposit account in a bank and a stinker of a petition written to another Federal Government review panel by the chairman of the agency’s board, Tijani Ramalan, alleging fraudulent award of contracts worth over eight billion naira to different consultants without due process, as the major issues for which the NAMASA colossus was arrested.
In the petition dated April 23, 2007 entitled, “Comment of the IMB (Interim Management Board) Chairman, Ahmed Tijani Ramalan on the Report/Recommendations of the committee on NAMASA Funds Trapped in failed Banks,”and exclusively obtained by The Source, Ramalan alleged that in less than eight months, Usoro had used consultants to siphone over eight billion naira through over-bloated contracts that neither passed through due process nor were endorsed by the Interim Management Board (IMB), which Ramalan is the head.
These and many other sins of Usoro so piqued the IMB and several other staffers who had on various occasions called on the Federal Government to sack the NAMASA DG. According to parts of the petition, “since the establishment of NAMASA, reports have it that millions of naira and dollars are being siphoned through the appointments and secret payments to consultants by the Director-General above her limit and without due tender, due process and IMB’s approval. The government should direct investigations into award of consultancy jobs since the establishment of NAMASA”.
Details of these contracts, which according to Ramalan have remained a conduit pipe draining the agency’s funds and tearing NAMASA apart include, purchase of SAR (Search and Rescue ) Helicopters awarded to Messrs Bell August SPA at $16.4million; charting of the Nigerian coastline awarded to Messrs Michael Daniel and Messrs Shelter Coast Associates at N200 million; procurement of marine pollution laboratory equipment and regents to messrs Michael Daniel and messrs Shelter Cost Associates, at the rate of N50million; construction and equipping of SAR Centre, Onne, awarded to messrs Michael Daniel and messrs Shelter Cost Associates at the cost of N300million; and N120million paid to messrs Michael Daniel for the construction of residential quarters for SAR Centres at Oron, Bonny and Escravos.
Other contracts include N30million for the furnishing of Marine Courts at Lagos, Port Harcourt, Calabar and Warri, awarded to messrs Michael Daniel and Shelter Cost Associates and equipping of SAR boats, fire-fighting equipment and accessories, construction of two zonal offices and four ports offices, at N50million $12million, N30million and N100million respectively, to the same company, (messrs Michael Daniels and shelter cost).
Michael Daniels also got the sum of N600million as payment for the construction of marine jetties at Bonny, Escravos and Kirikiri, while messrs Mariava of United Kingdom secured a man-power restructuring contract at the rate of N35.2million. The duo of messrs Foundation Chamber and messrs Alatta, according to Ramalan, benefited from physical inspection and verification, and staff auditing contracts, respectively.
Instructively, many maritime watchers wonder how Usoro was able to award nine contracts worth about N1.48billion to messrs Micheal Daniel and Shelter Cost Associates alone.
Though the petition did not mention the amount involved in both contracts as well as that of Mariava, Victor Onuzuruike, the Chief Internal Auditor of NAMASA, confirmed to The Source that Mariava got N35.2million from the spree.
Onuzuruike who disparaged the petition contended that it was borne out of mischief and that some of the contracts have not been paid for.
Ramalan had, in fact, also faulted the N15million contract awarded to Messrs GTi Consult to service three NAMASA vehicles for three years. Some NAMASA staffers who condemned the contract which also included “reimbursable claims for maintenance of three project vehicles and operational support staff from 2003-2005…” argued that the highest amount paid to senior staff for vehicle maintenance in a quarter is N15,000, which amounts to N60,000 per year and N180,000 in three years. The said contact, he noted, was entered into without the board’s knowledge and was approved by Usoro in a memo signed by George O. Inyang, an architect.
The Source further gathered that Usoro, in line with her unilateral approach to management, approved a N45million contract to one Funke Agbor, a partner to Adepetun Caxton marketing on March 5, 2007, in which Agbor and Segun, barristers and solicitors, were appointed to conduct due diligence on nine banks. The approval letter, according to sources, was discarded by the Board at one of its management meetings when Usoro presented it for final ratification.
There is also the case of the launch of a book written by a private individual for which Usoro committed N45million of NAMASA's funds. This is especially worrisome as the amount was unilaterally determined by the NAMASA matriach.
In summation, the IMB in its petition, gave 16 recommendations to the Federal Government which include among others, the dissolution of the IMB, investigation of the funds of the NAMASA and the disengagement of Usoro.
Since August last year when the Federal Government merged the former National Maritime Authority (NMA) and the Joint Maritime Labour Industrial Council (JOMALIC), which metamorphosed into NAMASA and appointed Usoro as an interim head of the agency pending when the bill for the harmonisation would be passed, the agency has not known peace as it has been turned into a battle field for its various titans. In fact, the war of attrition within the agency has aroused so much curiousity regarding what the real bone of contention is all about. While Usoro accuses Ramalan of usurping power, Ramalan claims that as the chairman, he should be privy to any policy formulated in the agency.
However, The Source’s investigation indicate that the acrimony largely centres on who gets the biggest share of the agency’s rich coffer. This led to the setting up of a Federal Government Committee on NAMASA trapped funds in failed banks, which after thorough investigations indicted Usoro for allegedly conniving with Ezeala to misappropriate NAMASA funds. The committee also recommended the sack of Usoro and the investigation of the agency by the EFCC, as well as the dissolution of the IMB.
Instructively, The Source’s penetrating insight into the sleaze in NAMASA began in October 2006 barely two months after Usoro was appointed, with a story entitled, “The NAMASA Matriarch: Her Questionable Ways,” which appeared on The Source edition of October 30, 2006. Therein, The Source brought to the fore Usoro’s alleged feminist and nepotic dispositions, which routinely brought her into collision with the board chairman, Ramalan. Ramalan had at the time petitioned the ministry of transport.
In the story, the NAMASA boss was accused by Ramalan and other top officials of paralysing activities in the agency through her numerous travels in and outside the country and an increased retinue of aides which cost the parastatal several millions of naira on each trip. Yet, she (Usoro) failed to delegate responsibilities to her subordinates, especially the two executive directors of NAMASA, Dosumu and Oliver Ogbuagu. She was also accused of retrenching some workers as a punitive measure against their opposition of her alleged unpopular policies as well as changing the organogram of the agency without formal approval from the ministry.
Subsequently, The Source, in its edition dated January 29, 2007, was the first to break the news of NAMASA funds trapped in some failed banks through a story entitled, “N800 million Fraud Rocks NAMASA and “NAMASA: Squable in the Boardroom” in the edition dated April 2, 2007. These came amidst blackmail, intimidation, physical assault and threats to the life of The Source’s reporter, Innocent Chukwu, by Usoro’s aides, Ezeala, and other disgruntled NAMASA staff who felt worried by the way the magazine exposed the fraudulent activities rocking the agency.
In both stories, The Source detailed how Usoro, Ferdinand Agu, an architect and former DG of NAMASA, were conniving allegedly to manipulate the various foreign accounts of the agency which were trapped in failed and unapproved banks for selfish pecuniary reasons. This was to lead to the suspension of Ezeala and the questioning of the Minister of State for Transport (MOS), Habib Aliyu, by Usoro for approving the suspension. Usoro also allegedly sacked workers of the agency who were loyal to Ramalan as well as cast verbal aspersions on an executive director “for questioning my good intentions and reforms in NAMASA.” She was further accused of awarding contracts to her proteges without due process observed.
Instructively, The Source was later to be vindicated in its edition of April 16, 2007 where in its cover story captioned, “N2billion Fraud Rocks NAMASA,” it carried a detailed and exclusive report on the findings of a Federal Government committee on NAMASA funds in failed banks. The committee confirmed the magazine’s various expose’ on the NAMASA boss and recommended her immediate sack for allegedly running down the agency. The committee which accused Usoro of denying it access to important documents stated that “the current DG’s (Usoro) dictatorial and unilateral approach to administration,” were dangerous, noting that “given her (Usoro) limited administrative experience, it is alleged that the DG treats senior officers with disdain, takes decision unilaterally without consultation with ED’s, fortifies her office and immediate environment with all kinds of armed security…” and faulted her unilateral decision to lodge $20million in a fixed deposit account without the board’s knowledge.
It further stated: “The current DG of NAMASA from the committee’s overall assessment, lacks the requisite experience in the management of human, material and financial resources required for the effective and efficient running of a complex and critical organisation like NAMASA.
“The committee also found that her fiery temperament and poor human relations leave much to be desired… There are overwhelming pieces of evidence both oral and documentary that support the fact that she runs the NAMASA as if it was her personal estate, as she dictates what should happen or not, without due consultation with either the Board of Directors or the management staff…”
According to the investigative committee headed by Dr. H. Oyedepo, a director in the Transport Ministry, “The current DG, Mrs Mfom Ekong Usoro, for consistently blocking genuine efforts to unravel the riddle behind the lodgments and for flagrant disobedience of extant rules and regulations, should be relieved of her appointment.”
Perhaps, it was based on the above revelation that Ramalan petitioned the Federal Govenrment, which then directed the EFCC to investigate the management of the funds of NAMASA since last year. Usoro, the prime suspect, was arrested by the commission but released the following day, after intense searches at her office and residence. In the meantime, she is to be reporting daily at the office of the anti-graft agency, whilst investigations continue.