Reps Panel alleges Ports Operators Owe FG $753m, N1.61bn

House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has alleged that port operators owe the government $852,093,730.77 and N1,878,560,509.57.

The Public Accounts Committee Chairman, Mr. Wole Oke, who confirmed the development, claimed that of the amount, $753 million and N1,609,150,534.32 have not been paid by the terminal operators.

Oke stated that the National Assembly would leave no stone unturned in ensuring total recovery of the debts.

The law maker said the debtors would be summoned before the committee to ascertain their indebtedness to the Federal Government and work out terms of payment.

He also vowed to publicise identities of the debtors in national dailies and get them blacklisted from doing business with the government in future.

The discovery by the committee was based on a report of the office of the Auditor General of the Federation, which queried Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) over the indebtedness of about 18 terminal operators in the country.

According to the Auditor General of the Federation’s query, the amount formed part of the debt identified by the Auditor General as money standing against the terminal operators, as at December 31, 2019, in its report to the National Assembly.

The operators involved are at the Lagos, TinCan Island, Delta, Rivers, Onne and Calabar ports. The Office of the Auditor General, had, in its report on non-compliance/internal control weaknesses in Ministries, Departments and Agencies, (MDAs) of the Federal Government of Nigeria for the year ended December 31, 2019, said the operators owed the government the huge amounts.