By Kunle Sanni
Hadiza Bala Usman, Special Adviser on Policy Coordination to President Bola Tinubu, has refuted claims by BUA Chairman Abdulsamad Rabiu alleging political interference in the termination of their concession at Rivers Port Terminal B.
She said this in reaction to an article on Thursday by BUA titled “Two Years of President Tinubu: A Business Perspective,” in which the conglomerate claimed its operations at the Port Harcourt terminal were arbitrarily shut down due to personal bias by NPA leadership.
BUA Group had also alleged that its concession was revoked without prior warning and attributed the decision to the former NPA boss acting in favour of a friend.
In what appears to be a rebuttal published in Premium Times on Friday, Usman who served as Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) from 2016 to 2021 labelled the statement as false and misleading.
She accused the BUA Chairman of abusing his access to former President Muhammadu Buhari to reverse NPA’s decision by presenting misleading information, to the detriment of national interest.
“It is curious that the chairman of BUA Group has continued to push this false narrative aimed at distracting Nigerians from seeing his company’s flagrant disregard of the binding contractual agreement,” Usman stated.
Usman clarified that BUA Ports and Terminal Limited was granted a 20-year concession for Rivers Port Terminal B in 2006, with a clear obligation to begin reconstruction of Berths 5 to 8 within 90 days.
According to her, a decade later, BUA had failed to start the required work. The first notice of default was issued in February 2016—before she assumed office as Managing Director of the NPA.
She added that after taking office, she continued the due process by issuing further notices in August 2016, and eventually a termination notice in November that same year due to BUA’s persistent non-compliance.
However, BUA later secured a court order in January 2018 restraining the NPA from enforcing the termination, which the agency respected, allowing BUA to resume operations without interference.
Usman noted that all actions taken were strictly based on BUA’s breach of contractual obligations, not personal interests.