Atiku's Company Sacked, Authorities Give Reason

Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has explained why it terminated the services of Intels Nigeria Limited from the eastern ports of Calabar, Delta and Port Harcourt.

The company, co-owned by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, provides comprehensive integrated logistics services for the Nigerian oil and gas industry and has 30 years of experience in port management and support services in shore bases across Nigeria.

The Managing Director of the NPA, Hajia Hadiza Bala Usman, told The Nation that the decision to terminate the services of Intels was informed by the latter’s inability to remit over $140 million to the federal government’s coffers, being the accumulated revenue it generated for a period of time.

“Intels was providing a service of collecting revenue for port operations and they were not remitting as and when due,” she said.

She recalled that after she came on board as NPA MD, she signed “a supplementary agreement which required all revenues generated to be paid into the single treasury account (TSA).”

Usman said Intels, however, reneged on the agreement it had with the NPA and the corporation was left with no option than to cancel the contract outright.

She said: “Following the agreement, Intels has been very difficult in making payments to us. They owe us over $140million that they have not remitted. So, we felt such non-compliance and such level of impunity should not be accepted, hence we issued a notice of termination to them.

“We are going to advertise for a replacement company that would offer such services at a cheaper cost because Intels is charging the Nigerian government 28 percent for revenue collection and typically such commissions are limited to 10-15 percent.

“You hardly see where an agency is charging 28 percent. So, we have issued a notice of termination and we are also going to court to ensure that those monies not credited by Intels are paid back”.