More trouble for Atiku, NPA to re-award INTELS contract, FIRS seals INTELS office in Onne.


The disagreement between the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and INTELS Nigeria Limited deepened yesterday as the agency said it would soon begin bidding for the withdrawn pilotage contract.

The Managing Director of NPA, Hadiza Bala-Usman yesterday said the company was trying to prove to be above the law of the Federal Government of Nigeria, adding that the authority would not condone that attitude.

Bala-Usman said the government would follow the issue to the letter and open a fresh bidding in a transparent manner for prospective contractors.

She assured the jittery workers of the oil and gas logistics giant that once they possess the required skills, the new contractor would engage their services.

The NPA boss alleged that INTELS had refused to comply with the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy of the Federal Government, as it insisted on deducting its money from source.

“INTELS wanted to continue to do the job and deduct their money from source and then remit the balance to NPA, due to the fear of delay. I have, therefore, assured them that the money would be paid within seven working days and where we exceed these days, we would be ready to pay for the delays. No company is above the law and it is only when all corporate entities obey the laws of the country that everyone benefits. There must be a level playing field for all players in the sector and this is the commitment of the NPA,” she said.

INTELS alleged that the management of NPA deliberately frustrated attempts to address the issues raised by the introduction of the TSA in the execution of its pilotage agency agreement.

There were reports that the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has placed a seal on INTELS property in Onne, asking the company to pay unremitted taxes. But the company’s spokesman, Bolaji Akinola, debunked the report which he said was concocted by some unreliable sources to destabilise INTELS.

A statement by INTELS said the issues arose because the pilotage agency agreement, signed in 2010, did not envisage the TSA, and as such did not factor it into its implementation. The company said it borrowed $1.4 billion (N428.4 billion) from banks to execute the agreement with the understanding that the debt would be offset from monies realised from the pilotage services paid directly to the banks.

Akinola said meetings, letters and proposals on how to resolve the TSA imbroglio were rebuffed by the NPA managing director. “Deliberate stumbling blocks were placed on the path of resolving the issues and this is indicative of a sinister motive,” Akinola said yesterday.

According to him, INTELS on May 5, 2017, sent a letter to NPA proposing the opening of a jointly signed account between the company and NPA to which the boat service revenues would have been directed, but that the proposal, like many others, was rebuffed.

He also faulted claims by NPA that the contract was terminated based on the advice of the attorney-general of the federation.

“At what point are revenues eligible to be paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund? NPA acting on behalf of the Federal Government entered into a profit sharing agreement with INTELS that 72 per cent of the revenue goes to NPA while 28 per cent is for INTELS.

“The objective interpretation of the constitution should be that the revenue due to the federation should be the 72 per cent due to NPA,” he said.

Akinola also said that NPA could not fault INTELS in the execution of the contract, “which we handled most diligently.”

The spokesman said the management of NPA was pandering to the antics of the company’s detractors at the expense of government revenue, huge investments and several jobs, contrary to the position of fairness and objectivity that it should have adopted.

The Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, yesterday alleged that with the faceoff between NPA and INTELS, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, was being persecuted over his presidential ambition in 2019.

Reacting to the decision by the FIRS to seal INTELS over tax evasion, he warned government agencies to steer clear of politics.

In a statement in Abuja, Frank condemned the decision to shut the firm, believed to belong to Atiku, adding that Nigerians should rise up to the situation.



https://guardian.ng/news/more-trouble-for-atiku-npa-to-re-award-intels-contract/

Must the contract be awarded to Atiku's Intels firm? Is there no other competent firm that can do the work better than intels? If a directive is given and intels feels that they can obey it maybe because they won't make enough profit and cut corners again, shouldn't the contract be terminated or must we allow them to continue tripping us because it is Atiku that owns it?
I wonder why we are always sentimental and this is why these politicians treat us anyhow.

Nonsense , replacing Intels immediately is virtually impossible and even Abacha knew this thats why he opted for sacking the board instead of replacing them.. This poor move by this useless govt will only lead to increase in the cost of goods and scarcity because Intel owns all the equipment being used in our ports and pilotage services today and it took them about 40 years to gather this economy of scale.. Any new operator must be willing to invest over 5billion dollars in new equipments , training and experience to catch up with Intel today and there is no such investor around except Buhari also wants to seize intels equipment s...

Very Serious.

That may have been the plan all along. Retrieve the contract from intels and give another firm

Spylord48:
Must the contract be awarded to Atiku's Intels firm? Is there no other competent firm that can do the work better than intels? If a directive is given and intels feels that they can obey it maybe because they won't make enough profit and cut corners again, shouldn't the contract be terminated or must we allow them to continue tripping us because it is Atiku that owns it?
I wonder why we are always sentimental and this is why these politicians treat us anyhow.

Yes for now there isnt any competent firm to handle it and besides Intels created this business model from scratch 40 years ago and currently own all the equipments related to it

This is sad, most of our politicians steal public funds and starch them away in local or foreign accounts, where the stolen funds add no value to our GDP. but Atiku invested his in Nigeria, creating jobs for so many directly and thousands indirectly. but my fear for him has finally catch-up with him. The government of the day does not take likely to any form of opposition. so they are out to run every opposing voice aground. Since we cannot bring corruption to a standstill in Nigeria, we could at least learn how to profit better from it.

A trial time for Alhaji Atiku.

GavelSlam:



What nonsense is this figure you are calling?

Yes that's the official valuation of Intels

GavelSlam:


Go and sleep.


Stop pulling figures out of your As.s.

I meant 5 billion dollars not 50 ..just saw my error now