By Foster Obi
Management of Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) has described as unfounded, the allegations that it is deliberately nothernising managerial positions in the organization.
A statement signed by Jatto A Adams, General Manager, Corporate and Strategic Communications, titled ‘Re: Lopsided appointments of General Managers/Heads of Departments in Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA),’ said, “In the interest of public accountability, the management of Nigerian Ports Authority wishes to respond to reports of allegedlopsided appointment of General Managers supposedly to northernise the Authority.
“While stating upfront that the allegation is unfoundedand riddled with untruth, the management would like to inform stakeholders and the general public that the appointment and promotionof General Managers and Asst.General Managers are routinelyguided by vacancy, exigencies, seniority, competency and strict application of Federal Character Principle in order to ensure equity and even distribution of positions in the organisation.
“General Managers are usually appointed from the pool of Assistant General Managers who would ordinarily have been in the service of the Authority for long enough to have acquired significant experience in every aspect of the NPA’s operations.
“Records at the moment show that while some zones may have less representation in General Manager cadre, they have higher representation in the two other most senior roles of Assistant General Manager and Principal Managers. As the table presented below will show:
General Managers Assistant General Managers Principal Managers Total
North-Central 3 6 36 45
North-East 7 10 27 44
NorthWest 5 3 26 34
South East 4 10 36 50
South South 1 10 43 54
South West 2 13 60 75
Total 22 52 228 302
The statement noted that, “Stakeholders and the general public should also kindly note that while the General Manager, Finance is from the South East, the offices of General Manager, Seaview and General Manager Accounts do not exist, contrary to the reports being circulated.
“On allegations that some retired General Managers have had their tenures extended on contract in order to stop their “potential successors” from succeeding them, management asserts that this is totally untrue.
“The two cases that were mentioned, General Manager, Human Resources Mr. Yahaya Bukar (Aug.2018-Aug 2020)and General Manager, Engineering, Engr Ahmed RufaiMohammed( Feb 2020-2021) had their tenures legally extended for the specific reason of the completion of some of the very important projects that were started within the period of their services as General Managers. This situation also applied to the immediate past General Manager, Finance, Mr Simeon Aniobi, whose tenure was extended between Oct 2017 and October 2019.
“The management of the Authority is confident to say that it is guided by principles of fairness, equity and the law of the country in all its operations.”
Pix: NPA MD, Hadiza Bala Usman
