…Commissions Study On Port Charges In West Africa
The Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA); Ms Hadiza Bala-Usman has assured that the Authority will introduce quarterly stakeholders meetings in order to interact more with stakeholders in 2017 so as to be more in tune with happenings at the various ports.
The MD disclosed this on Friday last week when she paid a courtesy visit to the national secretariat of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA).
Usman noted that the essence of her visit was to interact directly with critical stakeholders to discuss issues burning on the minds of the stakeholders and to seek collaborations on how to solve some of the challenges.
The MD also acknowledged that such collaboration was germane following the need to block revenue leakages and make the ports more competitive in the area of appropriate pricing.
To this end, the NPA MD said there is the need for government to look at corruption at the ports and how to plug the leakages.
Addressing the ANLCA members, she said, “I am sure that not all of you are aware that I am a member of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption. The committee, in 2017 is coming to domicile an office in the Nigerian Ports Authority on implementing a report that was submitted by the ICPC on the corruption index in ports administration, we shall embark strongly on anti-corruption measures in 2017”.
Meanwhile the National President of ANLCA, Prince Olayiwola Shittu charged the NPA MD to address some of the problems at the port which he itemized to include: corruption, bad roads, and high port charges at the port leading to un-competitiveness of Nigerian ports, compared to neighbouring West African ports.
“We want to appeal to you to use your God-given approach to battle corruption at the ports”, he said
The NPA Boss also visited the secretariat of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), where she said that the Authority has embarked on a study of respective tariffs across ports in West and Central Africa as a whole and to compare with what obtains in Nigeria.
She promised that, should it be discovered that Nigerian ports are more expensive, the agency would admonish the Federal Government to reduce port charges in order to enable more cargoes come into Nigerian ports.
At NAGAFF, she assured that the NPA was fully prepared to handle the increase in the volume of cargoes that would result from the ban of imported vehicles through land borders; adding that the right facilities had been put in place at the various ports to absorb the anticipated cargo surge as all terminal operators were ready to take up the challenge.
“Our operators are very much ready to take on additional cargoes that would come following the restriction of imported vehicles through the land borders. The Nigerian ports are ready to take on the expected increased traffic. We believe the ban is a step in the right direction because we feel there is a need for us to enhance and sustain importation and earn more revenue”, she said.
However, the Founder of NAGAFF, Dr. Boniface Aniebonam appreciated the NPA boss for visiting stakeholders, he described her as the first MD to have made such efforts.
