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The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has restated its resolve towards ensuring improved security at ports within the Eastern part of the country.
This followed increasing stakeholders’ concerns over incidents of sea piracy on waterways within the zone.
Addressing a stakeholders’ forum on Monday at Onne Port, managing director of the NPA, Hadiza Bala Usman, said the issue of security challenges had made the ports in the Eastern zone unattractive to users, but noted that the agency is working in collaboration with security agencies, such as the Navy, which the NPA is assisting greatly to enhance its capacity to check security breaches.
Usman, who was represented by the executive director (Marine and Operations), Dr. Sokonte Davies, noted that the Navy “has upped its efforts, NIMASA is also procuring some vessels and also training persons that will man those vessels to make sure that our waterways are safer. So when these waterways are safer, people will be attracted to bring their consignment this way.
“This is not a command. It is business. You cannot command anybody to bring his consignment to where he or she doesn’t want. When you go to the airport, there are so many airlines, you fly the one you choose. And that is how the port facilities are also. But we want to make sure that whatever thing that is causing distraction or making the ports in the Eastern parts to be unattractive is removed.”
She said the stakeholders’ forum, which is to be a quarterly exercise, is designed to ensure synergy between the NPA and its stakeholders towards improving efficiency at the ports. Such interface, she said, will translate to better services from NPA, as well as promote the ease of doing business and operational efficiency at the ports.
She emphasized that the management of NPA deemed it unfair to receive pay for services it did not render, and thus decided to ensure port users are not billed for services they did not enjoy
Said the Executive Order on 24 hour port operations was initially meant for the Lagos ports, but that the management of NPA deemed it wise to extend it to the other ports in the country, and is committed to ensuring the realization of the order.
Manager of the Onne Port, Alhassan Ismaila Abubakar, in an address, said Onne Port has keyed into the reform policies of the Hadiza Bala Usman’s led NPA, which are in line with the Presidential directive on the ease of doing business in Nigeria, and these are yielding obvious dividends in our business environment.
Part of the measures adopted by the Onne port in respect of the Executive Order, Abubakar said, include the creation of export desk to facilitate movement of export cargoes to terminals, intensifying security to ensure checks around the entry/exit points as well as pedestrian and vehicular access into the Port, letters to Terminal Operators to provide a single interface station to all agencies operating in their facility to be accomplished before the expiration of the 60 days ultimatum, inauguration of cargo duel time task force to monitor cargo clearance process and report bottlenecks identified in order to meet up with 48 hours cargo clearance target, among others.
He lauded the contributions of the security agencies operating within the port, the Nigerian Navy, Nigeria Customs, Nigeria Immigration, NDLEA, DSS, Port Police, JTF etc, which has reduced security breach in the port and waterways, as well as the synergy between other agencies, like SON and NAFDAC that had impacted positively on the ease of doing business at the Port.
