By Kenneth Jukpor
The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) is working towards setting up ten export promotion terminals as part of efforts to ease export business in the country.
NPA’s Managing Director, Mr. Mohammed Bello-Koko revealed this in Abuja on Thursday, while speaking at the Ministry of Transport press briefing on the activities of agencies in 2021 as well as future plans.
His words: “Trade facilitation and ease of doing business has also been improved at Lagos ports as we have licensed four new truck transit parks from where trucks can access the ports. Ten export promotion terminals have been proposed and we are partnering with other agencies like the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), among others.”
According to him, these export promotion terminals would be outside the red zone (Tin Can and Apapa port corridors) and facilitate packaging, sealing and processing for exports with the final clearance given at the various locations to expedite exports.
Meanwhile, the NPA boss stated that there is less waiting time for vessels at the anchorage areas because the Authority has more pilots and also acquired more tugboats in the last one year, adding that some tugboats will be deployed to Lekki deep seaport.
On port security, Bello-Koko noted that the Authority has patrol boats to survey the six pilotage districts and they are being manned by the marine police.
“We have started collaborating with the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) for the regulation of private jetties. We intend to come up with one checklist for jetty operators that would prioritize safety and standardization,” he said.
Meanwhile, he revealed that the Authority is considering opening up the management of the truck call-up system at Tin Can to competition even as he attributed some of the traffic challenges on the corridor to the ongoing road construction.
