The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) last weekend faulted media reports alleging the failure of the Authority to remit the sum of over 713 billion Naira into the Federation Account since 2009 describing it as misleading.
This was contained in a press statement it issued on Friday titled,” Revenue Remittance: NPA has complied with the law”, which was signed by the Assistant General Manager Public Affairs of the Authority, Musa Iliya and made available to Primetime Reporters.
The release noted that the allegation was made by the Committee on public finance of the on-going National Conference in a report it submitted to the Conference, which according to the report was in contravention of the section 162 of the 1999 constitution.
It went further to say that the Management of the Authority would not have reacted to the mis-information but considering the impact it may have on the general public, the management was constrained to put the records straight.
According to the release, the Nigerian Ports Authority was established by the Nigerian Ports Authority Act, CAP N 126 Law of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 with the power to construct, equip, operate and provide seaport services to the general public.
It also said that the authority was to be the commercial arm of the government which has to operate almost like any other business and profits before remitting its operating surplus to the government which owns the Authority adding that the surplus to be remitted was the net of all costs of undertaking operations which included development, maintenance of facilities, purchase of equipment and administrative expenses.
It said, “In Pursuance of the above, the authority was given financial autonomy under section 13-14 of the ports Act to supply its revenue towards carrying out the operations, development of ports, purchasing of equipment before remitting the surplus to the government. Section 14 (1) of the ports Act allows the authority to maintain a general reserve fund into which it is set aside appropriate amounts for replacement, contingencies and other purposes”.
“The monies are to be applied for purposes of the authority with the approval of the Minister as provided under section 14 (2). However, with the coming into force of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the appropriations in respect of the authority are approved by the National Assembly by the virtue of section 81 of the constitution”.
“Section 15 allows the authority to apply its surplus revenues for its own purposes as it may determine. With the coming into effect of the 1999 constitution, the surplus revenues of the authority were made subject to the consolidated revenue fund established under section 81 (1) of the constitution. This supersedes section 15 of the ports Act in order to bring it in line with the constitution”, the statement read.
It further noted that what is remitted as the revenue surpluses after meeting all operational, maintenance, development and administrative costs as appropriated by the National Assembly under section 81 of the constitution in each year saying that the authority dealt with the remittance as appropriated and not otherwise.
On the annual report of the authority, the release stated that the authority prepared its annual report not later than six months after the end of each year and submit same to the Minister as provided for in section 21 (1) and (2) of the ports Act even as it observed that it was only then that the revenue surpluses were determined for remittance under the fiscal responsibility Act when all the costs as appropriated for it by National assembly must have been settled.
It however pointed out that because of the peculiarity of the industry, the requirement to pay all revenues directly to the Federation Account was not practicable as at the point of collection from the third parties owing to the fact that the monies were not yet revenues of the ports authority until the services and all associated costs were covered.
NPA maintained that as a global tradition, the port industry must conform to outlined safety and operating standards hence the need to ensure that all operating expenses were undertaken before surpluses were to be determined and remitted to the consolidated revenue fund cannot be overemphasized.
It continued,” the retention of our revenue as provided for by the law has enabled the authority to successfully execute its mandate as enunciated in the federal government ports reforms. This has resulted in the growth of the general cargo handling capacity in the nation’s seaports as evident between the period 2006-2012”.
It therefore quoted the total number of vessels completed between the period under review to be at 31, 993, gross registered tonnage of vessels was put at 676, 379, 752 while the total cargo throughput within the same period amounted to 467,422, 223 adding that the authority has embarked on massive capital intensive projects in the areas of the improved navigational safety, ports infrastructures and information technology.
“The amount spent on these projects to get the system going is colossal and deserves timely intervention as desired by the financial autonomy accorded the authority in the existing law; the release said.
