Ports Need Urgent Reconstruction, Reps Tell FG

The House of Representatives Committee on Ports and Harbours has called on the Federal Government to urgently reconstruct ports in the country.

The Chairman of the committee, Nnolim Nnaji, gave the commendations recently, during a press conference to mark the end of a three-day oversight visit to the agency.

“We have seen the level of decay at the ports, and we agree with the management of NPA on the need to urgently reconstruct Tincan Island and comprehensively rehabilitate Apapa, Rivers, Warri, Onne and Calabar Port Complexes respectively,” Nnaji said.

 He, however, commended the management of the Nigerian Ports Authority for its sterling performance.

He said that the management of the NPA had done well in the area of unprecedented revenue generation and remittance to the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the federation and in the area of infrastructure and equipment renewal.

He added that the 100 per cent physical examination of cargo negated the objectives of trade facilitation and ease of doing business.

 “Even though we must acknowledge the efforts of the current leadership of Nigerian Customs, we will give legislative support where necessary for the automation of cargo examination through the use of scanners,” he assured.