Anenih queries N3bn Calabar dredging contract

[Mirror]

Newly re-appointed board Chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, Chief Tony Anenih, has queried the N3 billion contract for the dredging of Calabar Port and the Ibaka Deep Seaport channels.

The 82-Kilometre Calabar channel dredging contract had over the years constituted a major drain pipe on the country's economy since the former military government under the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, awarded the contract sometime in 1996 at the cost of N3 billion, it has never been executed as the channels have remained shallow.

NPA had also awarded the contract again sometime in 2002 under President Olusegun Obasanjo's administration at the cost of $56million (N8.7billion), which was also not executed.

However, the contract was re-awarded in 2006 under the administration of Dr. Abiye Sekibo as Minister of Transport and Chief Adebayo Sarumi as managing director of the NPA at the cost of N14billion to two foreign firms, Van Oord Limited and Jan de Nul Limited, which was also meshed in controversies.

But maritime industry stakeholders are worried over what may be the likely outcome of the current disagreement between the board and the management of the NPA.

Meanwhile, the decision of the current managing director of the authority, Mr. Habib Abdullahi, to re-award the contract under controversial circumstances, drew the ire of the current Chairman, Chief Anenih, who petitioned the Minister of Transport, Mallam Idris Umar, protesting the terms and conditions of the contract.

More than four months after the Minister was petitioned, nothing seem to have happened, a development that aroused the concerns of stakeholders as to whether the issue has been swept under the carpet or not.

Some maritime stakeholders, who expressed concern over the prevailing and disturbing silence of the Minister, noted that the current protest by the chairman presents the best opportunity to resolve all the scams associated with the repeated award of contracts for the same project in the last 20 years or thereabout.

According to them, nearly five months after the chairman petitioned the Minister, during which he raised some critical and fundamental flaws both in content and process of the award of the contract; nothing has been said by the Minister in terms of the issues raised. A stakeholder who pleaded anonymity said: "I am particularly disturbed that there are clandestine plans by the NPA management to cover up such fraud once again as suggested by both the silence of the authority and that the Ministry."

"The Calabar Port channel dredging contract has for too long provided an avenue of succeeding managements of NPA to fleece public funds and this time around, stakeholders will rise in unity of purpose to ensure that the current management does not have its way as it has been in the past," the stakeholders had warned.

National Mirror