By Gabriel Atumeyi
Reasons have continued to emerge on why Hadiza Bala Usman, the former managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority was suspended.
Though the Presidency did not give a concrete reason for her suspension, it approved the recommendation of the Ministry of Transportation under Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi for the setting up an Administrative Panel of Inquiry to investigate the management of the NPA.
A report revealed that a petition letter was written by Rotimi Ameachi to the presidency on the findings.
Rotimi Amaechi, on seeing the humongous fraud that went on in the NPA had petitioned the president asking for a full-scale investigation.
Ameachi’s initial investigation had revealed that the Hadiza Usman-led NPA did not make a remittance of about N165,320,962,697 which is a hundred and sixty-five billion, three hundred and twenty million, nine hundred and sixty-two thousand, six hundred and ninety-seven naira.
The presidency through the chief of staff had replied giving Ameachi full approval to go ahead with the investigation
Hadiza Usman was first appointed in July 2016 after President Buhari took over government in 2015.
According to sources, her appointment came as a reward after she formed and led the Bring Back Our Girls campaign, a group which ‘tormented’ the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan when the girls were kidnapped.
She was also a former appointee of the Kaduna state governor, Nasir el-Rufai thus, was presented to the Buhari government for the appointment.
Usman who had served out her first term was supposed to be re-appointed this year but Rotimi Amaechi who is her supervising minister had not approved her re-appointment but instead, had ordered a full-scale investigation into her tenure as NPA managing director.