The Federal Government on Tuesday said Hadiza Bala-Usman would remain suspended from office as the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority until the outcome of the investigation being done by the panel that was established to probe her activities.
On Monday the Federal Government inaugurated the panel of enquiry on the management of the NPA and ordered the panel to investigate policies of Bala-Usman, who was suspended last week for allegedly failing to make required remittances to the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
This came as the Federal Ministry of Transportation faulted a media report that linked the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, to two Chinese firms that submitted bids to manage some port channels which was allegedly against due process.
The report (not in The PUNCH) had stated that Amaechi requested that two the Chinese companies should be selected to manage Bonny and Warri channels and that the request was rejected by the NPA because it violated due process.
Reacting to the development, the Permanent Secretary, FMoT, Magdalene Ajani, in a detailed article she personally signed, said the minister had inaugurated an administrative panel to investigate certain alleged infractions within the NPA from 2016 till date.
“This panel was constituted pursuant to the approval and directives of President Muhammadu Buhari, who also approved the suspension of Ms Bala-Usman pending the outcome of the panel’s assignment,” she said.
