Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has recommended that Calabar Channel Management Company Limited (CCML) be paid the balance of work done and allowed to continue the dredging till completion.
The recommendation which was made by an audit committee set up by NPA and headed by the Executive Director, Engineering and Technical Services of the agency, Prof. Idris Abubakar, said the companies should be paid their balance for work done and be allowed to continue the dredging till completion.
The report, in its recommendations on page 13 (iii) stated, among others, that having verified volumes dredged, all outstanding payments due to CCML should be effected in line with the provisions of the JV agreement.
Citing paragraph iv of the same recommendations saying that CCML be paid, the statement said: “In view of the subsisting presidential approval for the JV, CCML be allowed to continue with the operations but at a reduced scale to be determined by the authority’s need and CCML’s board technical and finance committee.
“The Calabar dredging issue has been mired in controversy lately with allegations flying round that the contract was awarded to Niger Global Engineering and Technical Services Limited without due process and that despite the fact that the company did no job, it was paid $12 million,” the statement said.
Also, the statement said that documents available to CCML said that Niger Global Engineering, United Bank for Africa dated September 2, 2015 also revealed that Societe De Dragage/Lusembourg SA was paid the sum of $3,600,000 on August 21, 2015 while Dredging International Services was paid $1,207,440 on August 24, 2015 and Nigerian Westminster Dredging & Marine Limited was paid $500,000 amounting to $6,307,440.
Also, it said that a letter from the Nigerian Navy dated July 7, 2017 with Ref no VT:015/73/200/Vol IV/70 confirmed that the Navy carried out security services for the dredging of Calabar Port for the period between November 20, 2014 and January 15, 2015.
“This is to confirm that the Nigerian Navy, through MMS Victory, Calabar, provided all the security services to the personnel and equipment of Calabar Channel Management Company for the successful execution of the dredging exercise. The operation was hitch-free based on our assessment hence there was no security breach during the period,” the letter to CCML stated.
It also claimed that the former Director General of Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP), Emeka Ezeh, in a letter to the Minister of Transport dated August 15, 2014 said: “The bureau had no objection to the implementation of the project as approved by His Excellency, Mr President”, effectively putting paid to insinuations that the contract was not approved by BPP,” the management said.