By Eniola Idris
The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has restated it’s determination to enthrone international standards and best practice in the handling of ships and cargo in all seaports in the country.
The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Mohammed Bello Koko made the remark while addressing members of the Senate Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation led by Senator Theodore Orji, during an oversight visit to NPA.
According to him, the Authority has created the enabling environment for a well-structured inter-modal system for seamless connectivity of the water ways, rail and road transportation, to foster improved service delivery as well as increase in revenue to the nation’s purse.
He noted that the various reforms rolled out by the Federal Government have had a significant positive impact on Port productivity, stressing that the dividends are evident in the areas of reduced cargo dwell time, improvement in cargo throughput, ship turn-around time and drastic reduction in security incidents within and around the Port environs.
The NPA boss called for better synergy with Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and other agencies of government involved in the examination and clearance of cargo, to drive efficiency in Port operations.
While expressing the appreciation of the Authority to the lawmakers for their visit, Bello-Koko assured that NPA would work tirelessly at ensuring the sustenance of service excellence across the nations Ports.
He solicited the timely intervention of the committee on efforts to end the perennial traffic gridlock plaguing vehicular activities along the port access roads.
The Chairman of ithe Committee, Senator Theodore Orji stated that the committee would work collaboratively with the NPA Management with the view to resolve all bottlenecks militating against ease of doing business at the ports.
