The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) branch of Senior Staff Association of Communication, Transport and Corporation (SSACTAC) has urged the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Ms Hadiza Bala Usman not to expend her time on probing shady deals perpetrated during the administrations before her.
Shipping Position Daily had reported exclusively on Monday that the Federal Government may carry out a probe on NPA, specifically the multi-billion Naira renovation contract of the headquarters building by Messrs Sageto Construction Company allegedly owned by Nigeria's former Vice President, Architect Namadi Sambo.
Speaking with some journalists in his office on Tuesday, President of the NPA senior staff, Comrade Benson Adegbeyeni urged Hadiza Usman to focus attention on creating her own legacy at the NPA rather than looking at the past.
He advised the MD of NPA to set up a committee to carry out any probe and give her a feedback, so that she can concentrate her energy on building the organisation.
Adegbeyeni noted said that the MD has since Monday started receiving briefing from each department of NPA on what their operations are all about and possible challenges.
"When you say you are probing or digging, it would not give you time to work, put the past behind you, you are now the MD, it all boils down to what you can do. Stop the anomalies of the past and start building what people can see"
"The federal government has been probing for a long time but yet what have they achieved from it? Most of the people they are probing in politics now will depart from PDP and go to APC and they would be given a soft landing"
"I am not against her probing, but I would advise her if she wants to do that, to set up a committee that will be probing while she focuses on her work, because by the time she is leaving office, she would only be judged by her achievements" he said.
He noted that the agency is currently under-staffed and that in five years, most of the senior officials of NPA would have retired.
According to him, the morale of most of the staff is currently down as many have been denied promotionsand other benefits.
"Since Monday, the MD has been calling for departmental briefing and we have so many departments in NPA. On Monday they started with Engineering, and this department alone has many units, they will go in to brief her, tell her the constraints and possible solutions", he told the journalists.
Comrade Adegbeyeni however condemned the delays associated with the renovation of the NPA headquarters. He said that the building is already falling apart even when the contractor is yet to deliver it.
He said "doors are already falling, the air conditions are not working, and most of the toilets are not working".
He confirmed that the contract was awarded to former Vice President and a former NPA Board Chairman.
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