In November 2012, the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, admitted it achieved only 25 per cent of its budget appropriation, a development that impacted negatively on port infrastructural development. However as at June, less than three months after the budget was passed, the agency announced that it has achieved over 80 per cent implementation of its budget, a claim most stakeholders described as outrageous. FRANCIS EZEM examines the issues.
All over the world, governments, corporate bodies and even individuals make annual budgets at the beginning of each fiscal year based on expected income and expenditure.
For the government particularly, it is through the capital projects enunciated in the budgets that it is able to touch the lives of the citizens, especially the common man on the street. It is generally believed that apart from touching the lives of the citizens, it is through these capital budgets that the government releases money into the system, which among other benefits help in creating jobs and wealth.
This singular fact also accounts for why governments insist that spending on capital projects must by far exceed those of recurrent, which is incidentally one of the major indices to measure the performance of any given budget. The place of strict budget implementation can therefore not over –emphasised, especially in a public sector driven economy such as Nigeria's, where even big corporations and banks wait to know the direction of the government budget.
It was probably to underscore the importance of strict budget implementation that the National Assembly, especially the House of Representatives, Nigeria's lower chamber, last year threatened to impeach President Goodluck Jonathan over alleged poor implementation of the 2012 budget. The Nigerian seaports, no doubt constitute one of the nation's most critical assets.
This is more so when viewed against the background that Nigeria needs her seaports to export her crude oil, which is the mainstay of the economy. It is also a well known fact that as an import-dependent nation, Nigeria needs her seaports for the importation of foreign goods ranging from domestic to industrial to cater for her over 160 million population. This was probably this almost indispensable position of these seaports that earned the Nigerian Ports Authority NPA, the accolade 'Gateway to the nation's economy'.
Regrettably, the current management of the authority has failed to make optimum use of the authority's budget to touch the lives of the citizenry.
For instance, Managing Director of NPA, Mallam Habib Abdullahi last year admitted that as at November, two months to the end of the year, the authority only implemented 25 percent of its 2012 budget.
This is an indication that critical projects that should have boosted the growth of the industry were not executed. Abdullahi, who addressed top management of the authority at a one-day strategic session on project implementation in Lagos, said the development he said was unfortunate. He had expressed worries, especially given the fact that the revenue of the authority under the postconcession dispensation is derived from its core areas of responsibility, which include the provision of infrastructure and vessel support services.
'The viability of the ports is more than ever linked to the level of its infrastructure, which are needed to enhance its capacity to sustain and foster growth in traffic throughput in response to growth in economic activities', he further regretted
He noted that as part of measures to make the seaports perform optimally, the Federal Government undertook a reform based on a landlord model, which placed the responsibility of providing port infrastructure and vessel support services such as pilotage and towage etc on the authority.
But a maritime stakeholder, who commented on the development, noted that the admission by the managing director was a mischief geared towards the indicting the immediate past managing director, Mallam Oman Suleiman without knowing it was rather a self-indictment.
He said: "The current managing director, Mallam Abdullahi should take a larger chunk of the blame for the non-implementation of the 2012 budget because he was at that time the executive director in charge of finance and administration of the authority, part of whose duty was to ensure strict implementation of the implementation of the budget".
Only recently, the Minister of Transport, Mallam Idris Umar, claimed that authority's 2013 budget has been implemented to the tune of over 80 percent.
The minister had during a ministerial briefing on the midterm achievements of the present administration in the transport held on June 3, 2013 in Abuja, told the world that the authority's 2013 budget was over 80 percent implemented.
But industry operators have kept wonder the possibility of implementing over 80 percent of a budget less than three months after it was passed. But an operator, who did not want his name mentioned wondered how such could be possible, especially considering the bureaucracy that trail the quarterly release of the funds allocated to the various projects under the budget.
"I challenge the minister as a matter of urgency to publish the capital projects executed under the budget that constitute 80 percent of its implementation less than three or four months after its passage by the National Assembly".
One of the projects listed by the minister under the 2013 budget is the rehabilitation of the quay apron and quay of the Tin Can Island Port Complex, Apapa, which he claimed was 100 percent completed.
Investigations showed that the contract valued at N3.7billion was awarded to Messrs Johnak Engineering Company Limited, which had since been abandoned.
But in what appeared a rebuttal of the ministers claims, Managing Director of Ports & Cargo Handling Services Limited, a member of the SIFAX Group and concessionaire in charge of Terminal C, of the TCIP, Mr. John Jenkings, who addressed the media on the activities of the company, decried the poor quality of work done on the project, which is directly located at the terminal
According to him, repairs of quay walls and quay aprons are very important to the operations of the company but however regretted that the project, which has already been abandoned has not been given the serious attention it deserves.
"The contractor NPA awarded the contract to has not in our opinion given the assignment any serious attention", he had lamented regrettably.
He also said: "The contract is facing undue delay and the job being done is far from being satisfactory". The managing director, who joined the company about two years ago urged the NPA to prevail on the contractor handling the repair of the quay apron and the quay wall to move up the job both in terms of quality and speed.
The Ports & Cargo-boss had earlier while highlighting the major challenges faced by the company listed the non –connection of the terminal to public power supply, which is supposed to be provided by NPA under the port concession agreement.
Experts are however of the strong view that strict implementation of NPA budget is critical to the realisation of the hub port status for West and Central African sub-region, which will be facilitated by the level of infrastructure and efficiency at the nation's seaports.
National Mirror