NPA to write off N119bn ‘bad debts’

The debts are monies owned the agency by terminal operators and some of its partners in the last ten years.

The Managing Director of the Authority, Ms Hadiza Bala Usman, said that private companies and government agencies owe NPA about N10 billion and $585million (N180 billion).

“According to her, most of the entries which constitute the “bad debt” were made on land leased out by the organization to private companies but which were encumbered and could not be possessed by the lessees. She said appropriate steps would be taken to write the debt off NPA’s books.

While assuring that the present NPA management would work hard to block revenue leakages in the organization, Usman warned that contractors who failed to fully execute their briefs and fulfill their contractual obligations risk being blacklisted.

“We cannot have contractors collecting our money and not do what is required.

We have directed our procurement department to put in place structured framework which will be signed where contractors will be blacklisted from future contracts with NPA; “We have also discussed this with the Bureau of Public Procurement to convey our concerns with the fact that we are having contractors that are not performing on their contracts.  NPA is facilitating the setting up of a National Single Window to facilitate cargo clearance at the ports, “she said.