The Source Magazine Online

...News from the depth, rooted in time

		Search Fo r
		Search Fo r

HOME

ARCHIVES

SUBSCRIPTION

ADVERT RATES

ABOUT US

MARCH 12, 2007 VOL. 20. NO 22

NPA’s Big Mess

**Nuhu Ribadu, EFCC Chairman**

The House of Representatives moves to arrest Adebayo Sarumi, managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), over alleged misappropriation of about N63.9billion said to have accrued to the authority in 2006 and frivolous award of contracts
By Innocent Chukwu
Critics of the Adebayo Sarumi-led management of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), last year insisted that the undertaker, as the managing director is commonly referred to in the industry, would have done himself a great favour if he retired when the ovation was high, especially at the consummation of the concessioning of the ports.
This, they argue, was because Adebayo Sarumi’s continued hang-on at the authority may at last, tarnish his image and personality, considering the level of corruption that has infested the maritime industry in recent times. There are also fears that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which has been investigating the authority’s financial books since 2005, may cast a slur on his (Sarumi) credibility.
Indeed, these analysts have, ostensibly been proved right, even though Sarumi failed to heed to their candid counsel, preferring instead, to enter his name in the annals of the Public Service, as the last and perhaps the longest serving managing director of the NPA. This anticipated laudable feat, observers say, is a pleasant one worth celebrating, but they say that in the case of Sarumi, it may not be that rosy, as there are indications that the NPA helmsman may sooner or latter be bowing out of office with a huge question mark on his integrity and transparency.
Infact, The Source’s investigations show that in October 2003, when the erstwhile teacher was appointed by President Olusegun Obasanjo to man the NPA as its managing director, Sarumi had openly criticised the administration of his immediate predecessor, Aminu Dabo, an architect and the then board of the NPA headed by Chief Olabode George, for mismanaging NPA’s funds through inflating contract sums as well as frivolous contract awards.
He specifically berated the duo for their recklessness in handling public funds which led to the NPA being indebted to its clients and contractors, a debt that ran into several billions of naira which his administration was to inherit. Sarumi also cynically castigated media campaigns and friendliness embarked upon and enjoyed by Dabo, with the aim of projecting the already battered image of the parastatal, as a hypocritical move. According to Sarumi, there was nothing worth celebrating in the rot called NPA.
In place of what Sarumi regarded as reckless and frivolous management approach of Dabo and George, he pledged to tighten perceived loose ends including bogus media adverts and white elephant contracts, to evolve a frugal management style typical of a teacher he was and to start paying into the Federal Account, a responsibility his predecessor failed to bear.
Yet, many operators contend that it did not take Sarumi long time to deviate from these lofty visions for the NPA and joined the bandwagon. Although Sarumi once celebrated a relatively “peanut” the NPA remitted to the Federation Account in 2005, two years after his appointment, the parastatal under his tutelage, has, in recent times, been adjudged as one of the most corrupt Federal Government departments by the EFCC, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former Finance Minister and the latest of them all, the House of Representatives.
Going by what the lower House described as Sarumi’s financial recklessness, the House of Representatives almost concluded moves to arrest him over mismanagement of public funds, the undertaker, many fear, may be heading strait to detention as soon as he vacates office as the NPA boss.
Sarumi’s ordeal started last year, 2006, when it was touted that he had interest in gunning for the gubernatorial race in his home state of Oyo. Not a few critics recalled that Sarumi had then vowed he would not tamper with or steal the authority’s funds for self enrichment. However, they concluded that Sarumi, based on alleged frauds that engulfed the NPA at the time, must have amassed stupendous wealth for him to aspire to the governorship position of a state known for “money politics.”
Not quite long afterwards, the anti-graft commission invaded the authority in search of records of alleged financial misappropriation. The Source gathered that the outcome of the EFCC investigation on Sarumi and his cronies, are yet to be made public. Infact, a senior officer in the Public Relations unit of the NPA whispered to The Source that “we heard that the EFCC is investigating the authority. We saw them moving from one office to the other, but I can’t tell you exactly what has happened since then.”
Notedly, in a brisk move to curtail unnecessary finance leakages, Sarumi “inexplicably” sanctioned top officials of the Transport ministry in Abuja and severed further financial dealings with the ministry. Investigations revealed that the NPA boss had, in a circular, informed the ministry that his parastatal would no longer sponsor official and (unofficial) foreign trips of officers of the ministry.
As a gesture that allegedly gulped several millions of dollar (U$D) accrued to the NPA and were allegedly recorded in sundry expenditure books which could not easily be explained to the commission, Sarumi was said to have taken the decision since he was the one to answer posers from the EFCC.
The move, which was confirmed to The Source by Christopher Borha, the image maker of the NPA, also pitched the Transport Ministry against the parastatal. Borha insisted that it was a Federal Government directive that the ministries must take care of their expenditure instead of bothering parastatals under them.
Sarumi’s stewardship question also came to the fore early in the year 2007 when against his expectation, the Federal Government nominated his (Sarumi) subordinate, Chief Desmond Akawor, for a ministerial position. Akawor was an Executive Director at the NPA before he was nominated and ultimately given the post of a Junior Minister (Minister of State) in the presidency. Unconfirmed sources had it that the President chose Akawor because he lost confidence in Sarumi, based on reports of alleged corrupt enrichment of the NPA helmsman.
Also, unconfirmed reports said that the presidency had counselled Sarumi to jettison his guber guest and wait for a possible appointment in the cabinet. But the EFCC investigations on NPA tied the hands of the President who opted for Akawor. The Source learnt that when Akawor was nominated, Sarumi was agitated over the possibility of the ED becoming the head of the Transport Ministry as its substantive minister. This was because, Sarumi who was unwilling to descend the NPA throne, would not have served under his former subordinate.
While Sarumi keeps swimming in these troubled waters, experts maintain that he must have slipped unwittingly into the murky zone, where only the big fishes have the capability to find their way out. This is against the backdrop of the threat from the House of Representatives to seek warrant to arrest the embattled MD for failing to appear before it to answer to allegations of how he (Sarumi) misappropriated a whopping sum of N63.9billion the parastatal generated in 2006.
The NPA boss who detailed Alhaji Abbah Murtala Mohammed, an Executive Director (Finance) in the NPA, to represent him before the House Committee on Public Accounts, drew the ire of the House which it said that he (Sarumi) and his management team have been avoiding it since past three years. The committee therefore, concluded that it would issue a warrant for Sarumi’s imminent arrest and possible arraignment.
According to the Deputy Chairman of the House Committee, Alhaji Farouk Mohammed, the House which had formally written the NPA helmsman since January 30, 2007 asking him to produce a dossier containing 14 documents to enable it scrutinise its (NPA) accounts, wanted Sarumi to appear before the committee and explain to it how the NPA spent the N63.9billion.
Speaking through one of its members, Alhaji Zanna Laisu, the committee explicitly called the NPA “a house of corruption”. Laisu wondered how the parastatal awarded about 10,000 contracts in four years.
The Source made efforts to have the duo of Senator Ugochukwu Uba and Emeka Ihedioha, chairmen, Senate and House Committee on marine transport respectively, to comment on the development, since both had on several occasions, stressed that their oversight functions in the industry were very effective. They also had variously eulogised Sarumi for his frugal and transparent dispositions at the parastatal, a direct opposite of why the Public Accounts Committee seeks to arrest the NPA Superman.
However, several telephone calls put across their GSM lines failed as at the time of filing this report. But a maritime analyst, Lucky Amiwere said “it is not a new thing, it is their affair. How they will resolve it is what you and I will not know.”