As Petitioners fail to  honour invitations

Mohammed Bello Koko, MD, NPA

The House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions has dismissed a petition against the Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mohammed Bello Koko, over an alleged bad debt of N178 billion.

The petition against Koko was as a fallout of the agency’s 2019 audited financial statement.

The Forum of Non-Governmental Organisations in Nigeria had petitioned the lower legislative chamber, insisting on investigation of the MD over “the N178 billion provision made for the bad debt in the Audited Financial Statement of the agency”.

However, the petitioners refused to appear before the committee at Wednesday’s hearing to address the panel despite their invitation to do so.

The failure of the petitioners to appear did not go down well with the lawmakers, prompting the chairman of the committee, Mike Etaba, to dismiss the petition for lack of merit.

“While the NPA Managing Director has been honouring our invitations and had stated his side of the issue,  the petitioners have declined honouring the panel’s invitation. This is the sixth time and the petitioners have not been here,  the case is hereby dismissed,” Etaba said.

The petitioner had requested the management of NPA to be invited to address the growth of its alleged debt from N135 billion in 2018 to N173 billion in 2024.