The Nigerian Ports Authourity (NPA) is at a cross road over how to tackle one of its concessionaires; Integrated Logistics Service (INTELS) in its quest to collect the huge debt allegedly being owed the agency.
While documents revealed that the debt is in the excess of N403Billion, the challenge before the NPA has to do with the political will to force the highly-influential company with known links to a former Vice President and senior member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
A source in NPA told one of our correspondents last week that, the fact that INTELS owes NPA has never been in contention, what is lacking is how to go about it and ensure payment.
“This is one of the reasons the National Assembly has waded into the matter, we were told to bring documents, we did and where we are now is that INTELS is contesting the figures that we presented. How can they (INTELS) expect us to pay interests on loans that they took to develop infrastructures, when we were not party to the deal that they had with the banks”, he told Shipping Position Daily, even as he expressed helplessness. They have being defaulting on payment of some statutory royalties”, our source explained.
Apart from the NPA, sources close to the Senate committee on Marine Transport also confided in our correspondent that, the Senate is keen on resolving the issue of NPA /INTELS debt which has been lingering for years.
“We were shocked that for close to six years, INTELS has been defaulting in these payments, and the committee had to request for details from the NPA. What we saw shocked us, these debts are denominated in Dollars”, he stated.
But our findings further revealed that, it was indeed INTELS that petitioned the Senate, a development which prompted the Senate to ask for NPA’s side of the story via a letter dated December 20, 2016. However, NPA’s response fated January 17, 2017 has opened more cans of worms.
In the response, NPA claimed that: INTELS owes the agency about $952 million and N3.3 billion, respectively. “Intels has been collecting dues and charges on behalf of the agency since 2010. It is Intels that is rather indebted to NPA in respects of rents at its Onne base which currently stands at N3.3 billion.”
It added that: “The total agency commission to Intels computed in line with the executed agreement was $353 million for the period under review. This amount was deemed to have been deducted electronically from service boat revenue by Intels in accordance with subsisting agreement. The total sum of $68million is currently in Intels custody, pending the issuance of credit notes for project and finance costs.”
Our sources at both NPA and the National Assembly confirmed that, considering the political weight that INTELS has, the matter is being weighed carefully. “It is either the MD take the bull by the horns and pursues the debt recovery with determination or she buckles under the weight that the firm can pull”, the source at NPA said.
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