I was removed for questioning NPA operations — Garba

‘’Before my removal, I was not comfortable with the way the board and authority were run. I consistently expressed my discomfort and displeasure with the way the MD was running the place and this, I have no iota of doubt in my mind made her to orchestrate my removal from the board.

‘’Note, I was removed without the knowledge of the supervising ministry/Minister of Transportation, which was very uncommon. ‘’My observations and complaints with the suspended NPA MD were more with the financial statements of NPA and I worried that if she continued so, there would certainly be trouble and her sudden removal (suspension) would be inevitable.  I noted discrepancies, I raised observations, I asked questions but I was completely ignored and disregarded. Answers were never provided, until my removal.

‘’Some members of the board felt I was the only one holding the financial report back. I had to meet with the   Minister of Transportation and I told him I wasn’t comfortable with the way and manner the board was being handled and treated by the MD and that I wanted to resign.”

’The board chairman, Chief Akin Ricketts (whose removal as board chairman was also orchestrated by the MD) and some other members, prevailed on me not to resign and that, if I did, it would send the wrong signal and would not be good for the President. We settled down to work on it (the financial reports).

’After sometime, my uneasiness did not go away.  Again, I met with the Minister of Transportation and told him that I did not want to continue with the board, considering the way the MD was running the place.

‘’I met someone high up in the Presidential Villa and told him my own story and advised that the MD be called to order. I also met and made similar observations and complaints to the then Director-General of the National Directorate of Employment, NDE, Dr. Nasiru and the then Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transportation, Mallam Zakari.

’Instead of making amends, the suspended MD’s next move was to go against the NPA Act by designing my removal from the board.  The Act stipulates that it is the minister who should send names of appointees to the board to the President for approval. For someone to unilaterally go against the Act and the Minister that brought her on board was rather unfortunate.

‘’I made it very clear to everyone I spoke with about the situation in NPA, stressing that it was not about me but the system, rules and   procedures, as well as the survival of our institutions. I could not keep quiet and watch the suspended MD run the NPA aground. I wished she had listened but she didn’t and opted to plot my removal from the board. Unfortunately, I have been vindicated.’’