Who Is NPA Boss, Hadiza Bala Usman’s Godfather?

Who Is NPA Boss, Hadiza Bala Usman’s Godfather?

When the very beautiful Ms. Hadiza Bala Usman was appointed Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority on July 12, 2016 at 40 years, many tongues wagged.

The gist was that her closeness to Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai did the magic. She is indeed close to the Kaduna Chief Executive no doubt.

She was, in fact, the Director of Strategy between 2011 and 2015 at the Good Governance Group, an NGO founded by El-Rufai and his friends, and later El-Rufai’s Chief of Staff in 2015.

But some argued that she has also paid her dues. Not many knew her prominent roles as a key member and co-convener of #BringBackOurGirls, a campaign group pushing for the rescue of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls.

Earlier, Ms Hadiza  Bala Usman had also worked at the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) from July 2000 to August 2004 as Enterprise Officer and the UNDP for the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) from October 2004 to January 2008 as Special Assistant to the Minister on Project Implementation.

Usman also cut her teeth as a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on Anti-Corruption under the Chairmanship of the revered legal luminary, Professor Itse Sagay.

Five years down the lane, NPA has witnessed remarkable improvements under Ms. Hadiza Bala Usman. Under her watch, the Nigerian Ports Authority this week just introduced a novel electronic call-up system for trucks and containers at the ports to ease flow of traffic.

This new idea has the potential to save Nigeria N140 billion in weekly economic losses and another $10 billion yearly agro products’ capital flight. An App called Eto would drive the process and the industry is high with hopes.

Ms Hadiza Bala Usman also fought hard to ensure President Buhari cancel the curious Secure Anchorage Area (SAA) operated by the Ocean Marine Solutions Limited (OMSL) owned by warring Captain Hosa Okunbor and Dr. Tunde Ayeni. Bala Usman’s NPA, with the support of Minister Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi spent most of the last one year showing why SAA was illegal, scandalous and against the ease of doing business policy of the government.

She revealed that with the charge of $2,000 for the first day and a $1,500 for subsequent days paid by every ship calling in the Nigerian waters to use the SAA, the cost of shipping in the country would escalate. What is worse? The “over $70 million generated in the last 18 months” was neither remitted to government, nor accounted for!

Also, under Ms Usman, the NPA was recognised by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO 9001 and the OHSAS 18001) Certification.

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Ms Usman also started de-classification of ports terminals which removed the categorization of some ports as strictly oil and gas. This creates better level ground for aggrieved players like Berger and LADOL.

Ms Hadiza Bala Usman administration also acquired and commissioned four new tug boats namely MT Daura, MT Ubima, MT Uromi and MT Majiya in order to further improve operational efficiency. She also upgraded a 25-year Port Development Master Plan.

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It was then cheering news when President Mohammed Buhari reappointed Ms Hadiza Bala Usman for another five year tenure.

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The issue of port congestion and cargo delay remains an albatross though it precedes her tenure. With the sanity she is restoring in the system, the horizon looks bright for the Nigerian ports.