The House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions on Wednesday dismissed a petition against the Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mohammed Bello Koko, over an alleged bad debt of N178 billion. Which has been for five years.
The petition against Koko was as a fallout of the agency’s 2019 audited financial statement.
The Forum of Non-Governmental Organisations in Nigeria had petitioned the lower legislative chamber, insisting on investigation of the NPA over “the N178 billion provision made for the bad debt in the Audited Financial Statement of the agency”.
However, the petitioners refused to appear before the committee at Wednesday’s hearing to address the panel despite their invitation to do so.
The failure of the petitioners to appear did not go down well with the lawmakers, prompting the chairman of the committee, Mike Etaba, to dismiss the petition for lack of merit.
Etaba disclosed that the NPA Managing Director had been honouring the invitation and had stated his own side of the issue, “but for six times, petitioners have declined honouring the panel’s invitation”.
“This is the sixth time and the petitioner has not been in this place. The case is hereby dismissed,” Etaba said.
