The Nigeria Port Authority has informed the Senate Public Accounts Committee that some of the private port operators who were indebted to the agency to the tune of $67 million and N32 billion can no longer be traced.
The Managing Director of the NPA, Mohammed Bello-Koko, revealed this to the lawmakers on Thursday.
Bello-Koko, who was yet to assume office when the debts were accumulated, was summoned by the Senate Public Accounts Committee over the debt as contained in the 2019 Auditors General Report.
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According to the query, the NPA’s estate tenants, shipping companies and service boats providers are hugely indebted to the NPA to the tune of $67 million and N32 billion.
Bello-Koko told the lawmakers that some of the debtors could no.longer be traced as their addresses are beer parlour locations.
He added that the outstanding debt was as a result of legacy debt/pre-concession period of 2006 and before.
The NPA Managing Director said: “The concession agreements were faulty in the sense that some of the operators are facing encumbrances in different ways to cover the space concessioned for them, which also encumbered them to remit what are due from them to NPA.
“The encumbrances in question range from inaccessibility of some portions of areas leased by concessionaire, communal encumbrance and volume change or turnage amount.”
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