The Senior Staff Association of Statutory Corporations and Government Owned Companies (SSASCGOC), Maritime Branch, has decried the Post-No-Debit order on the bank accounts of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) is adversely affecting port operations in the country.
“Putting Post-No-Debit on our account is affecting the workers. Now diesel has finished, but there is no money to buy diesel. Some ports don’t have light as we speak. Nothing is paid for.
“The NPA headquarters in Marina cannot send money to the ports as a result of this policy. That’s why some ports don’t have light right now. That Post-No-Debit was signed by the office of the Accountant-General but the NPA management is on it right now,” the President of SSASCGOC Maritime Branch, Comrade Akinola Bodunde, told journalists during a press briefing on Tuesday.
The union also kicked against a directive by the Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Finance, to Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to remit 100 percent of their internally generated revenue (IGR) to the Sub-Recurrent Account, which is a sub-component of the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).
The directive, according to the Federal Government, is to improve revenue generation, fiscal discipline, accountability and transparency in the management of government financial resources as well as prevent waste and inefficiencies.
The directive, however, allows all self-funded Federal Government agencies/parastatals such as NPA, which do not receive allocation from the federal budget, to remit 50 percent of their gross Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), including all statutory revenues like tender fees, contractor’s registration and sales of government assets to the sub recurrent account.
Comrade Akinola Bodunde while opposing the new government policy said it will adversely affect NPA in the discharge of its statutory duties.
“What we are saying is that the directive from the Minister of Finance will take 50 percent of whatever revenue generated by NPA in a year. This is not acceptable. Money goes into dredging every year in dollars. We have partnership with other organisations that we pay from the money we generate every year like INTELS, LTT, MARPOL, the towage in the East, in Lekki and so on.
“Now the quay apron is bad which needs urgent action. The management is planning to rehabilitate all the ports because they are old,” he said.
He said the union “may be forced to shut down port operations nationwide” if the government does not accede to its demands.
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