When the news of the suspension of the Managing Director of Nigeria Ports Authority, Hadiza Bala-Usman hit the airwaves on 6th May, 2021 which is over one month now over alledged unremitted N165 billion into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF), one wasn’t shuddered given that corruption is a culture in Nigeria.
Hadiza Bala-Usman is the first female Managing Director of the Nigeria Port Authority (NPA) who assumed that office in 2016.
Since her suspension by the presidency on the recommendation of the supervising minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, sympathisers of the embattled Hadiza have been running riot on social media alluding the development to political cold war of some sorts.
Without prejudice to administrative panel set up on 10th May, 2021 by the Honourable Minister to investigate the accounts of the Ports Authority in the last six years she held sway, could there be subterranean moves to give Hadiza Bala-Usman a soft landing in view of the huge aspersion her indictment could cast on government of day?
Be that as it may, it will serve the interest of Nigerians who are curiously waiting for the outcome of the panel. This is the point at which the panel may try to identify some major beneficiaries of NPA contracts, who are Political party leaders, Serving House of Rep members, serving Senators, Political aides from Kaduna State, Party excos from Katsina, the home State of President Buhari, traditional rulers, some women activists and her close family members.
One is not in doubt that the alledged unremitted N165 billion into the Consolidated Revenue Fund which was blown open by the Supervising Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), who has ears of President Muhammadu Buhari should be taken more seriously in the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians than politicising it. The exposure wasn’t the handiwork of opposition party, but by one of the inner caucus of Buhari’s government, hence, any attempt to sweep the alledged humongous fraud under the carpet in the guise of partisan politics negatives President Buhari’s avowed mantra of fighting corruption and insecurity in Nigeria.
The concern of this government’s unlikelihood of allowing full blown investigation into the books of NPA is valid, particularly that after one month of Hadiza Bala-Usman’s suspension from office, the anti-graft agencies – the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other related Offences Commission (ICPC) are looking the other way. Why hasn’t Bala-Usman been invited for interrogation under the Nigeria laws, that the alledged offence was criminal in nature?
Some analysts have allayed fears that Hadiza’s suspension may be reversed in days to come because of her high level connection with the powers that be. They have even gone ahead to say that she might be treated as a sacred cow, while they recalled that she was the candidate of Kaduna State governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai who assisted her to get the plum job sometime in 2016.
El-Rufai, a highy undiplomatic man and a hardliner whose often anachronistic decision has affected the people adversely without him caring for anything. It was also adduced that within the APC fold, the duo of El-Rufai and Rotimi Amaechi are working at cross purposes trying to outwit one another ahead of 2023 general election, hence, some analysts have said, getting Hadiza Bala-Usman out of NPA, was getting at El-Rufai the hard way.
But in all these political intrigues, corruption is incontrovertible in government ministries, agencies and parastatals and that of the Nigeria Ports Authority could be an iceberg among the plethora of corruption, thus allowing Hadiza Bala-Usman walking freely on the street portend mediocrity in the fight against corruption by the Buhari-led government.
According to an International Non-governmental organisation, Transparency International rating of Nigeria on corruption perception index, it says Nigeria is number 149 out of 180 most corrupt countries of the world. This is not yet Uhuru in the fight against corruption and there must be a radical approach by the government that claims to fight corruption in the remaining two years when Nigerians shall confront the APC government with their corruption dossiers among many other social perfidious acts on the campaign field.
