At a press conference in Lagos on Wednesday, the Director, Data Centre for Rural Development, DCRD, Moses Uvomata said the suspension pf Hadiza Bala-Usman as the managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority is not complete without an equal action on Mohammed Bello-Koko.
According to Uvomata, the suspension of Bala-Usman was meaningless without asking Bello-Koko who served as executive director, finance and administration under her to step aside.
READ ALSO: Bitcoin Consume Less Energy than Banks – Report
Following the recent suspension of Bala-Usman by the Federal Government, alleging that the NPA failed to remit N165bn into the Consolidated Revenue Fund, a panel was inaugurated to investigate policies of the NPA.
The Federal Government also announced the appointment of Bello-Koko as the acting managing director of the organization.
Uvomata said the Federal Government should not have suspended Bala-Usman without taking a corresponding action on Bello-Koko who was in charge of finance at the organisation.
“Why should the Nigerian government suspend the managing director of NPA and keep the Executive Director, Finance and Admin, who is responsible for initiating remittances in question?” he queried.
Without mincing words, Uvomata said if the NPA finance director had implemented the right Enterprise Resource Planning solution, there would not be any need to dispute what should be remitted to the Federal Government.
He added that the demand is for the Director of Finance and Admin to be suspended immediately, the head of the probe panel replaced, and that the NPA should acquire an appropriate ERP solution that can automate her accounting processes to avoid reoccurrence of such issues.
David Jaiyeoba, Director if the ICT, DCRD, suggested that governments should adopt a system assurance on a continuous basis, emphasizing that systems were not built around individuals. He added that “quality assurance ensures we do not deviate.”
