The Public Account Committee of the House of Representatives on Tuesday asked the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) to hold an immediate reconciliation meeting with seaport terminal operators to resolve issues raised in audit queries from the office of the Auditor General of the Federation.
The Chairman of the committee, Wole Oke, made the charge following denial by a terminal operator – Tincan Island Container Terminal (TICT), which was listed as being indebted to NPA to the tune of $4.04 million. TICT said it did not owe NPA any money.
The General Manager Finance of TICT, Kunle Adigun said his company did not owe NPA and government. He said NPA refused to respond to several letters from TICT calling for reconciliation.
“Several times, we have made several appeals for NPA to come to the table for us to discuss. We have been writing letters since 2015 but no response. Our anniversary date is June because we started operation June 1, 2006. So, if there is going to be any changes, it should take effect from June 1,” he said.
However, the public accounts committee chairman said the Bureau for Public Enterprise (BPE) and some members of his committee would participate in the reconciliation meeting.
He said the reconciliation has become imperative to rest the controversy between NPA and terminal operators, since there was dispute over the alleged indebtedness.
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