The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has listed factors that will help the agency position itself towards greater efficiency, accountability and safety.
Some of those factors outlined by NPA are infrastructural renewal and expansion, the introduction of barge operations, improvement in the sources of revenue and collection in the agency and the introduction of the electronic call-up system to aid the automation of truck transit.
Other factors include doing away with monopolistic conduct, plucking revenue leakages and reducing overhead costs and formulation and implementation of policies to encourage usage of the Eastern Ports.
According to a statement signed by NPA’s General Manager, Corporate and Strategic Communications, Mr Olaseni Alakija, on Monday in Lagos, this disclosure was made by the Acting Managing Director of NPA, Mr Mohammed Bello-Koko.
According to NAN, Bello-Koko said the NPA is poised to creating and sustaining competitive advantage by offering its best in port operations, while speaking at the just-concluded strategic retreat organised for NPA top management.
What the acting Managing Director of NPA is saying
Bello-Koko said that NPA’s management is determined to reposition the nation’s seaports for greater efficiency, safety and accountability.
He said, “As part of efforts to position the agency towards greater efficiency, safety and accountability, the management has outlined factors that will enhance such prospects, as well as the capacity to garner greater market share.
“This will include infrastructural renewal and expansion, the introduction of barge operations, automation of truck transit through the electronic call up system and improvement in the sources of revenue and collection.
“Others include plugging income leakages and reducing overhead costs, elimination of monopolistic conduct, formulation and implementation of policies aimed to incentivise patronage of the Eastern Ports and encouraging competition.’’
Bello-Koko in the statement said that the retreat was designed to allow management staff to strategise and come up with smart actionable steps in order to ensure growth, competitiveness and future-readiness of the nation’s seaport systems.
The NPA boss pointed out that the disruptions caused by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic presented a learning curve, especially for organisations such as NPA that operate in a sector that was global in scope to be constantly ready for dynamics in the form of increasing competition and innovation.
He said, “Improving the turnaround time of vessels and reducing cargo dwell time is critical to attracting more vessels to our seaports. Optimising the business opportunities that the landlocked countries with whom we share borders presents a critical success factor in actualising our growth projections.
“The need to attract larger vessels and maximally benefit from the economies of scale that come with them show that the ongoing efforts to have deep seaports in Lekki, Badagry and Akwa Ibom, among others, are steps in the right direction.’’
He noted that in the meantime, NPA is constantly scaling up its responsibility of dredging the country’s channels to safely berth vessels of reasonable sizes whilst encouraging the use of flat bottom vessels (FBV) in areas of low draught.
What you should know
The NPA earlier in the year announced the launch of Eto, an Electronic Truck call-up system designed for the management of truck movement and access to and from the Lagos Ports Complex and the Tin Can Island Ports, Apapa, Lagos.
It is a systematic where truckers could log in, schedule, and get approval to go into the port in batches adding that it gives details of trucks that have access to the port and confirms the availability of space for other trucks in the terminal. This is simply to ensure sanity within the Apapa and Tin-Can Island ports and the environs.
