The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mohammed Bello-Koko, has said one of the port operators in charge of the Rivers Port, Ports and Terminal Operators (Nigeria) Limited, used its exchange rate in calculating revenue accruing to the Federal Government.
In a letter addressed to the Chairman of the House Committee on Public Accounts, the NPA boss said PTOL used N116 to the dollar at a time the official exchange rate was fixed at N305 to the dollar by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2016.
The letter, dated July 27, 2022, which was in response to an earlier letter from the committee, also showed that even while using another exchange rate of N151, agreed to after reconciliation, the terminal operator was still indebted to the government to the tune of $68.473 million as at October 13, 2021.
The House is investigating the report of the Auditor General for the Federation (AuGF) that the company had not been paying its lease fees and throughout feed to the government as and when due.
But in their response, the company claimed that contrary to the report of the AuGF, they have been paying their lease fee and throughput fee to the NPA.
A supporting document submitted by the NPA to the House committee tabulated the payments made by two concessionaires (BUA and PTOL) on lease and throughput fees between 2006 and June 2022.
But a close study of the document showed a huge disparity in the figures being owed the government by the company.
For example, while the document suggested that in 2008, PTOL was given a bill of $11,333,333.31 and paid $3,333,333.31, outstanding balance against them was put at $17,194,444.67, instead of $8,000,000.
In 2019, the bill given to the company for their operation at the Rivers Port complex was $10,080,000.00.
While the document indicated that they paid $3,000,000, the outstanding balance against them was put at $102,714,749.66, a figure that is far above the bill given to them as their lease fees.
The NPA letter reads: “Your letter, dated July 20, 2022 to the authority refers. The historical background of the debt profile of PTOL to NPA dated back to the inception of the concession, in 2006.
“These issues revolve round the inability of the operator to make payment on its lease fees as signed with BPE and NPA. PTOL gave the following reasons, among others, for its indebtedness to NPA:
“Amortisation of Berth 1-3. The difference in-amortisation carried out by PTOL and what was recognised by NPA differ when converted from dollar to naira.
“NPA relied on the existing exchange rate given by CBN at 305 as at year 2016, at the time of reconciliation while PTOL used N116 to a dollar, been the rate of dollar at the time of reconstruction.
“After reconciliation, a N151 to dollar was adopted, as stipulated in the supplemental agreement. The difference in valuation amounted to $11,068,187.16 and a credit note was issued on June 5, 2020.”