The management of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) has described allegations of corruption levelled against its Managing Director, Mr. Mohammed Bello Koko, by Citizens Initiative for Better Nigeria (CIBN), as spurious and totally uncalled for.
This was as the NPA particularly urged media organisations, the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE), to advise their members not to fall prey to unscrupulous individuals and revert their minds to the ethical and professional demands of accuracy, balance, fairness and social responsibility.
The NPA also alerted members of the public and security agencies in particular to a calculated, well-funded and oiled campaign of calumny, blackmail and disinformation against the Authority and its Managing Director.
The NPA in a statement its General Manager, Corporate and Strategic Communications, Josephine Moltok, noted that over the past few days, some nebulous, shadowy and penny-for-hire groups without due registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) hiding under the toga of civil society groups, have embarked on issuing distorted press statements, arranging press briefings in dingy motels and inducing phoney online outlets to publish outright lies, absolute falsehoods and defamatory articles against the NPA and its management.
Moltok also said that the amorphous groups and some individuals are regurgitating dubious petitions and sending to various government agencies and posting same on social media to discredit some personnel of the NPA management.
The statement further said that the latest finding by the NPA management indicated that the desperate individuals have equally added forgery to their devious act by superimposing the logo and seal of the NPA on letterheads to deceive the unsuspecting public of contracts allegedly awarded to some unknown companies and entities.
In the words of Maltok; “The NPA has a defined bidding process in line with extant rules and regulations regarding procurement and contract awards.
“Over the years, the NPA, especially under the leadership of Mohammed Koko Bello, has as its watchword – transparency, accountability and integrity.
“While we warn the peddlers of this godless campaign to desist forthwith, the management has alerted security agencies to this attempt to cause bad blood, create confusion and possibly the breakdown of law and order at the ports.
“We further enjoin media organisations like the Nigeria Union of Journalists and Nigeria Guild of Editors to advise its members not to fall prey to these unscrupulous individuals and revert their minds to the ethical and professional demands of accuracy, balance, fairness and social responsibility.
“At the NPA, the management remains committed to improved trade facilitation, revenue generation and unprecedented remittances to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) and is in tune with President Bola Tinubu’s FDI drive of which the ports are a key component,” the statement said.
