How N5.1bn NPA headquarters rehabilitation outlived five Managing Directors

Findings have revealed how the N5.1 billion Complete rehabilitation and expansion of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Headquarters building contract outlived five Managing Directors of the agency. This is even as senior staff management of the NPA under the aegis of the Senior Staff Association of Communication Transportation and Corporation (SSACTAC) has labelled the N5.1 billion rehabilitation project a shame.

Speaking to the Nigerian Tribune in an exclusive interview, the President of SSACTAC, Benson Adegbeyeni accused past management of the agency and the contractor handling the project of deliberately executing the project at a snail speed.

According to him, “the contractor handling the NPA Headquarters rehabilitation project is yet to hand over that project five and a half years after it was approved.

“That contract cost former NPA Managing Director, Mr Abdulsalam Mohammed his job in 2010 because he refused to sign the contract due to abnormalities he observed in the contract. Abdulsalam refused to sign that contract because the fund that was needed to fund it was inflated about 100 per cent.

On the long list of Managing Directors that the project has outlived, he explained that, “Ever since 2010 when Abdulsalam was sacked, four other Managing Directors of the NPA has come and gone and the project has remained uncompleted. There was even a time the contract was abandoned. That was during the electioneering period in late 2014 to early 2015.

“Omar Suleiman, Habib Abdullahi, Sanusi Lamido Ado Bayero, and Habib Abdullahi again have all come, served the NPA as Managing Director and gone, yet the project has lingered for five and a half years uncompleted.

“During this period, I was the Deputy President of SSACTAC and was privy to most of the happenings in NPA. If Flourmills Nigeria Plc can build its new corporate office in Apapa from scratch and finish it under one year, why would NPA now embark on headquarters rehabilitation for more than five years and the project is still uncompleted.

“Now that we have a new party onboard, they are rushing the contract to see if they can finish it hurriedly, thereby raising questions over the kind of materials they are using to build the contract. The NPA rehabilitation project is a huge shame.”

In 2012, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the complete rehabilitation and Expansion of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Headquarters building contract to Messrs. Sageto Nigeria Limited at a whopping cost of N5,001,785,839.05 on December 22, 2010 with an 18 months completion mandate, while Messrs.  AIMS Consultant Ltd bagged the consultancy job for the project.